Faith Molina was happy to step back up to the plate.
The Hastings leadoff hitter, batting for the second time in the marathon first inning Thursday, strode back to the box from second base and was handed her bat by a teammate.
Molina wasn’t upset; she shrugged off the run-scoring double she previously hit that, after a brief delay, was questioned and overturned by the umpiring crew.
A pitch later, it was erased from her memory as a fresher, better one was created.
Molina took her dinky double and raised herself. She poked the sweet spot of the barrel on a changeup and sailed the fence in right-center field.
She’ll take a home run over a double any day.
“I just kind of responded back like I know I can do better than that hit, so I came up there with that confidence,” Molina said. “I knew once they sent me back I had the possibility of (hitting a home run).”
Molina’s blast capped an 8-run first for the Class B No. 4 Tigers, who knocked off crosstown rival Adams Central 10-0 in four innings at Smith Softball Complex.
The scoring started with Molina, who drew a four-pitch walk. Her teammates subsequently turned the lineup over with five hits — four in a row immediately following Molina.
Sammy Schmidt reached on a bunt and Kaelan Schultz hammered home Molina’s courtesy runner Sydni Johnson to break the ice.
Delaney Mullen singled in Schmidt, and Peytin Hudson plated the former and Schultz with a rope down the left field line.
Emma Synek stroked a double to score Emma Landgren. McKinsey Long bunted in Synek before KK Laux reached on a dropped third strike.
That’s what led to Molina clubbing her home run.
Once the Hastings offense gets rolling, it has proven hard to stop.
“We’ve kind of just found a groove recently,” Speak said, downplaying the team’s season average of .455 and 10.7 average output per game. “We’ve been putting it in play and hitting the ball hard.
“I like that we’re putting it on the ground more and not so many home run balls; I think those just naturally come. But offensively, I’ve been really happy with the way we’ve been playing.”
The early outbursts have helped remedy the Tiger defense, the coach said.
“When we score early, we settle into a groove. When we don’t, we press a little bit and you can see it just in some of our close games, especially Elkhorn (the team’s only loss). We kind of waited around and it kind of came back and bit us,” Speak said.
Adams Central (13-7) suffered the same fate Thursday as it did Saturday in the Hastings Classic tournament against the Tigers.
The Patriots fell behind early and knew the mountain had potential to get steep quick.
“This was better (than Saturday), but we’re still not happy with the way that we came out,” said AC coach Tim Marker.
Carlee Wissing led off with a base hit for the Patriots and was bunted over by Macie Wolever. Once Brianna Stroh walked, AC had runners on first and third with one out.
But the Tigers spun a double play on a low liner to second base.
“We got off to a good start and then they made a big play to double us off in that first inning,” Marker said.
The Tigers (18-1) broke it open and then slammed the door afterward. Molina, the winning pitcher, fanned six Patriots in four innings and stranded three baserunners, including two in the fourth frame following a one-out walk and two-out single by Libby Trausch.
Schultz recorded a second hit and RBI in the Tigers’ half of the third inning, and Mullen plated the final HHS run with a sacrifice fly.
The Tigers head to a weekend they’ve been eyeing since early August, perhaps even before then.
No. 1 Omaha Skutt Catholic returns to Hastings for Saturday’s Hastings Invitational. The Skyhawks beat Hastings for the Class B state championship 11 months ago.
While it’s not guaranteed the teams will match up, it is a likely possibility. That’s what the Tigers are hoping for, too.
“We can’t get too big of heads,” Molina said, “but we want to go in there and compete with (Skutt) because we know they’re our biggest competition.”
Hastings opens the day with McCook, then potentially No. 6 Norris, and finally, maybe, Skutt.
“I think we’e really excited, but we’ve got to go one game at a time,” Speak said. “It’s easy to stub your toe early and not even make it to that game so we really need to focus on McCook. I think we’ll see Norris round two and they’ve got some great hitters and have been playing good ball lately.
“You hope you get to Skutt, but we’re just going to take it one game at a time.”
AC (13-7).......0 0 0 0 x x x — 0 2 1
HHS (17-1).8 0 2 x x x x — 10 10 0
W — Faith Molina. L — Taylin Schernikau.
2B — H, Emma Synek.
HR — H, Faith Molina.