The Hillsdale softball team left Columbus, Georgia, having won three-of-five games in the National Fastpitch Coaches Association Leadoff Classic held Feb. 24-26.

The Chargers won the first game 8-0 against Gannon University, the third game 4-1 against the University of Bridgeport, and the fifth game 5-1 against Southwestern University. They lost the second game 10-2 to California University of Pennsylvania as well as the fourth game 11-3 to the University of Charleston.

“Those were some of the top teams in the country,” head coach Kyle Gross said. “A lot of regional participant opponents — teams that are above 500 records. It was definitely a good showing for playing that level of competition early in the season.”

Junior infielder Grace Wallner and sophomore pitcher Joni Russell both received G-MAC softball awards for their performances this weekend. Wallner was named G-MAC Position Player of the Week, and Russell earned G-MAC Pitcher of the Week and was awarded a place on the NFCA Leadoff Classic All-Tournament team.

The Chargers won all three games that Russell pitched.

“I had 36 strikeouts out of all three games,” Russell said. “Last year, I had 160 strikeouts throughout the whole season, and now I had 36 just in this weekend which is huge.”

Wallner had a weekend average of .571, going 8-of-14 with hits in all five games, including two home runs, one double, and multiple singles.

According to Wallner, her home run in the last game was particularly exciting.

“We were up 1-0 and then I had a three run home run,” Wallner said. “So we were winning 4-0, and then Hannah Hoverman, who hit right after me, had a home run back-to-back with mine, so then we were winning five to nothing at that point.”

Russel said she believed that Gannon was not as tough of competition because it was its first game of the season.

“Pitching-wise, the two teams after that were really difficult because they were really aggressive hitters,” Russell said. “I really had to focus on hitting my spots, and if I didn’t, then they would hit the ball.”

The Chargers will play four games at the University of Illinois Springfield for the UIS Classic March 4-5. They will play against regional competition, including Illinois-Springfield, Quincy University, and McKendree University.

“Depending on how we do this coming weekend can impact later in the season, like getting an at-large bid after the conference tournament,” Wallner said. “If we don’t win the G-MAC conference outright, we can still get an at-large bid to go to regionals based on how we perform earlier in the season against regional opponents.”

Wallner said she is confident in the team going into this weekend despite struggles with injured players and some members deciding to step away from the team.

“I genuinely think the general consensus is that we feel confident moving forward, because we know we have depth,” Wallner said. “We have other people who can go in and fill those spots and get the job done. A lot of our freshmen have been doing a great job and are really stepping up and filling in roles.”