Mishawaka freshman Lilly Hein was mostly playing junior varsity because she’s a pitching prospect and softball coach Brian Miller didn’t want to mess with the pitching of his JV team.

Hein got an opportunity to play for the varsity on Tuesday and hit 2 scorching line drives that were caught on diving catches. Even though they were outs, it opened the eyes for Miller to give Hein another varsity start.

That came Thursday and we’re not sure she’s going to be headed back to the JV team.

With the game tied at 6 in the 7th inning, Hein came to the plate and drove in two runs and ignited a 9-run inning as Mishawaka stay undefeated in NLC play with a 15-6 win over Northridge. Hein actually capped the inning off with another hit to drive in two more runs.

She finished the night with 3 hits, 5 RBI and 2 runs scored and was our Reliance Player of the Game.

Mishawaka, the 3-time defending Northern Lakes Conference Champions, improved to 6-0 in league play and 9-1 overall. Northridge, which entered the night in 2nd place in the conference, falls to 3-2 in league play.

The Raiders were right there with the Cavemen through six innings but defensively couldn’t keep it together. Northridge had eight errors on the night.