Hailee Kara pitches Buchanan softball to district crown

BUCHANAN — Hailee Kara knew a lot was going to be expected of her this season.

After all, the ace pitcher from last year's Buchanan softball Division 3 state runner-up team, Sophia Lozmack, had graduated.

So the Buchanan sophomore started working with a new pitching coach, Jay Bolden, last fall. Between Bolden and the work she does with Buchanan coach Rachel Carlson, Kara has developed into quite a pitcher in her own right.

And Saturday she finally grabbed the spotlight.

Throwing a pair of shutouts, Kara pitched the Bucks to a another district championship. Kara fired a four-hitter with eight strikeouts as sixth-ranked Buchanan blanked arch-rival Brandywine 2-0 in the semifinals. And she followed that up with a three-hit, four-strikeout performance in a 5-0 victory over seventh-ranked Schoolcraft in the title game.

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"Hailee is a tremendous worker," Carlson said. "She threw all winter because she really wanted this role. She works for everything. She will throw all week and then go see her pitching coach on Sunday and tweek little things. She knew she was ready for today. And she stayed ahead of the hitters all day long."

"I worked really hard," Kara said. "I got a new pitching coach (Jay Bolden) because I knew I had to step up. I hit my spots really well today, throwing some screws and curves. And they couldn't catch up to the spin. I haven't thrown too many doubleheaders, but I was really prepared for today. I slept well last night. And the team behind me worked really hard on defense. I can't thank them enough."

Buchanan, now 32-6, was outstanding defensively, particularly up the middle with All-Staters Hannah Herman at shortstop and Alea Fisher at second base. Both made several outstanding plays.

"I said earlier that we were settled in where we needed to be defensively," Carlson said. "We made a couple of changes during the middle of the year. The kids believed in the changes and that made the biggest difference. And Hannah and Alea are All-Staters. You're going to see them make those types of plays because that's who they are."

Since those changes were made, Buchanan has made just 24 errors in 23 games.

Kara, who pitched just 48 innings a year ago, finishing 7-2 with a 1.60 earned run average, has been dominant down the stretch for Buchanan. In her last 82 1/3 innings, Kara has a 0.94 earned run average and has struck out 85 batters. Overall, Kara is 18-2 with a 1.58 ERA.

Kara is no slouch at the plate, either. She had three hits in the two games and is batting .463 with seven homers and 57 RBI.

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Herman and Fisher also made significant contributions at the plate. Herman reached base seven times in the two games and is batting .549 with seven homers and 44 RBI. And Fisher's two-run double in the first inning of the title game gave Kara all the runs she needed. Fisher is batting .419 with five homers and 51 RBI.

Designated hitter Hannah Tompkins had two hits in each game to raise her batting average to .453. Tompkins' two-run double in the sixth against Schoolcraft provided some insurance runs.

First baseman Cameron Carlson added two doubles and catcher Christin Cooper had two singles against Schoolcraft.

Buchanan will have to work on some clutch hitting before next Saturday's Division 3 regional at Parchment, where the Bucks will face host Parchment at noon. Buchanan left 18 runners stranded in the two games, including the bases loaded twice.

Buchanan | 101 | 000 | 0 - 2 | 7 | 1

Brandywine | 000 | 000 | 0 - 0 | 4 | 0

Hailee Kara (W); Kadence Brumitt (L)

2B: Hannah Tompkins (BUCH)

Records: Buchanan 31-6, Brandywine 17-15-1

Buchanan | 200 | 003|  0 - 5 | 11 | 0

Schoolcraft | 000 | 000 | 0 - 0 | 3 | 2

Hailee Kara (W); Olivia Pavlak (L)

2B: Alea Fisher (B), Hannah Tompkins (B), Cameron Carlson (B) 2

3B: Camille Lozmack (B)

Records: Buchanan 32-6, Schoolcraft 23-9

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Buchanan wins MHSAA Division 3 softball district title