‘That just happened’: Erin Hoehn’s legenday performance lifts North Posey to championship

WEST LAFAYETTE -- Years and years before Friday, a day that will go down in North Posey history as Erin Hoehn threw seven no-hit innings then launched a walk-off three-run home run, there was a young girl who hit in the basement.

It was here, around six or seven years old, that Hoehn put in work. Hitting off the tee. Soft toss. She wore out nets and softballs. When she got older, she trained in a barn near the house.

“She’s the kid that when you go to hit, I’m the one that wants to quit and she don’t,” her father, Jason, said. “‘Daddy, two more, two more.’ Pitching, same thing, three more, four more. It’s like, 'Erin, you’re wearing me out.' It’s been that way as far as I can remember. She never wanted to stop. I would have to make her stop. She just was never satisfied.”

On Friday, as Hoehn waited to bat with the game tied in the bottom of the 7th, she thought to herself: “Just keep my cool.” Hoehn then came up with two on and one out. After battling during the at-bat, she let the ball travel enough to send it with power to right center field. Back in the basement, when she was a young girl, that smooth swing was so apparent.

“I remember telling her mom that she just has a very natural swing that was just kinda amazing,” Jason said. “She just kinda picked up a bat and swung it so effortlessly. So we kinda just knew then.”

On Friday, that swing created a masterpiece. The ball kept carrying and carrying, until it left the yard. Her teammates streamed toward home plate. Fans raised their arms in the air. Hoehn came turning around third base.

“I was just so shocked,” Hoehn said. “Even touching home plate, I was like man that just happened. But it was just an unreal feeling, really.”

That did just happen.

Friday was yet another chapter, a thrilling chapter, in what has been a remarkable career for Hoehn. The Michigan-bound senior threw seven no-hit innings, striking out a 2A state championship record 15 batters, before lacing that walk-off home run in the bottom of the 7th inning to give North Posey a 3-0 win in the 2A state championship over Andrean. North Posey (29-0) becomes the first 2A undefeated state champion since South Putnam in 2012.

“Once in a generation person,” North Posey coach Gary Gentil said of Hoehn. “She’s so humble, she’s so much team-first oriented. All she wants to do is go out there and perform for her teammates."

This season has, in more ways than one, come full circle for North Posey. Last season ended in heartbreak for as it lost in the state championship 2-1. Hoehn was the losing pitcher. It was just North Posey’s second loss of that season. Roughly a year before Friday, near the exact same field, Gentil spoke to the team in the rain after coming up one step short of a state championship.

“I told them understand how you’ve changed the community of softball in our region and our community,” Gentil recalled of his message. “And don’t ever take anything for granted. Remember this taste. But also remember what you’ve accomplished.”

North Posey’s response this season was admirable. It entered Friday’s championship game with an incredible 28-0 record. Hoehn’s statistics were almost otherworldly. She entered Friday with a 19-0 record on the mound with a 0.31 earned run average and 290 strikeouts to just 22 walks. Not to mention at the plate, she was hitting .481 with 11 home runs.

Before this season, North Posey made just two softball state championship appearances (2007 and 2022). It’s not just Hoehn, but also her teammates, and also Gentil, that makes this story special. This community means something to Gentil. He attended North Posey as a student. In his 15th season as head coach, he has now led the program to its first state championship victory.

“Just a true blessing to be a part of the community and be able to coach a program to get there, top level you could ever dream about and bring it back home to your community,” Gentil said. “I’m just a Poseyville boy, a Posey County man.”

Friday’s clash was a true pitcher’s dual. It was not easy for North Posey. But neither was the team's road here. It won two games in the state playoffs in extra innings. On Friday, Andrean pitcher Abbey Bond tossed six shutout innings before North Posey finally got to her in the bottom of the 7th inning.

That’s when Hoehn let that swing fly.

“As soon as it was hit, we knew it was gone,” Gentil said. “You hear that sound and it was gone.”

“She finally got that pitch,” Jason said. “It was fantastic. Once it was hit, we kinda knew it was over.”

And in the words Hoehn would later utter:

“I was like. 'Man, that just happened.'”

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indiana softball: Erin Hoehn’s lifts North Posey to 2A state title