Freshman pitcher and cleanup hitter Debbie Hill rounds third base during a recent victory by the Trine softball team.
Hitting for the cycle is not a feat equipped to sneak up on a player.
And, yet, in the case of Trine University pitcher Debbie Hill, it went all tippy-toes-on-shag-carpeting during the Thunder’s recent 22-0 shutout of St. Mary’s College in the second game of a doubleheader.
Hill, a freshman left-hander, drove in nine of her team’s runs by producing, in order, a double, single, home run and triple. It wasn’t until after the five-inning rout that the former Whiteland standout began to sense — and appreciate — what she had accomplished.
But that’s Hill for you. Eyes always fixated on the task at hand.
“I had never hit for the cycle before,” said Hill, who bats cleanup for Trine (30-4), the seventh-ranked team in Division III entering Thursday’s doubleheader at Kalamazoo. “It was a really cool experience, especially being a pitcher.”
In her first season, Hill has secured two Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) position player of the week recognitions, earned the league’s top pitcher honor and achieved the ultimate by being named DIII national player of the week in early April.
She’s part of Trine’s outstanding four-person pitching rotation with a 6-3 record, 71 strikeouts and a 1.21 earned-run average in 57 2/3 innings. At the plate, Hill hits .442 with team-high numbers in doubles (12), home runs (10) and RBIs (39).
“It definitely took time for me to adapt, but once you get a few games, that’s when you start to settle in,” Hill said. “It has surprised me a little of how many awards I’ve won. I never expected that, especially as a freshman. All the work that gets put in during the season and offseason plays a big part.”
In only Trine’s second game, an early March home victory over Carnegie Mellon, Hill drove in six runs — a foreshadowing of both cold- and warm-weather games ahead.
Hill has at least one hit in 25 games, and two or more hits in 14.
Hill’s national recognition proved much-deserved after she went 11 for 15 at the plate during one memorable five-game stretch from March 26-30 in which the Thunder outscored the opposition, 62-10. She also pitched 4 2/3 innings, allowing only two hits and picking up a save.
“The first time through a lineup (while pitching), you get a feel for the other team,” Hill said. “What they’re looking for, what they’re chasing and, obviously, what an umpire is calling and not calling. You can only control what you can control, not an umpire’s strike zone.”
Getting Hill to the Trine campus in Angola, required work of its own. In time, however, the persistence demonstrated by Thunder coach Scott Danklefsen and his assistants paid dividends.
“We basically stalked her for two summers,” laughed Danklefsen, now in his 18th season after leading Trine to a runner-up finish at the 2022 DIII national tournament in Salem, Virginia. “We got Debbie’s (travel) softball schedule, and said, ‘Okay, one of our coaches is going to be at every one of her games.’”
As college athletes are inclined to do, Hill has matured as both a person and a player.
“Debbie was very quiet, but now she’s a lot more outgoing on the field,” Danklefsen said. “I’m probably most impressed with how even-keel she is. She could be 0 for 4 at the plate, and you would never know it. She’s very mature for a freshman.”
