After an injury cost her the opportunity to take the circle during their first meeting earlier this month, Bradley-Bourbonnais senior ace Lydia Hammond finally got her opportunity to face off against the team that ended her and the Boilermakers’ 2025 season in the Class 4A Supersectionals, Lockport, when the SouthWest Suburban Conference foes met at Bradley-Bourbonnais Tuesday.

And although she wasn’t supposed to pitch very deep into Tuesday’s game as she continues to work back from that injury, there was no way the Loyola commit was going to leave the circle.

Hammond took a perfect game into the sixth inning and a no-hitter into the seventh, holding off a late Porters’ rally and getting support with a five-run Boiler sixth that proved to be the difference in a 7-2 win for the home team.

“I honestly feel like knowing that they ended our season last year, that obviously hurt, so coming into this game I wanted a little bit of revenge,” Hammond said. “I wanted to win, we all wanted to win this game, and I feel like communicating every single pitch makes such a big difference. That’s something I wanted to start doing because it hypes my teammates up and it makes such a huge difference. It keeps me fired up, so that’s what really helped us.”

The Boilermakers (16-6, 5-3 SWSC), who took a 13-1 loss to the Porters in that April 8 meeting, have now stormed back to win five straight conference games to stay within striking distance of Lincoln-Way West, whose 8-1 record has the Warriors half a game above Lincoln-Way East at 7-2. The Porters (15-6-1, 7-2) sit a game back in third.

“It’s really massive for us,” Boilers coach Haylee Austell said. “I think it’s our biggest win of the year. ... When you’re the aggressor, when you’re confident, you’re going to put somebody on their heels. And when you’re on your heels you’re not going to play your best ball.

“We know what that felt like last time we played Lockport. We were on our heels consistently and we probably played our worst game of the year last time. To turn around and play our best game in a long time, probably since we were in Tennessee (March 26-27), is great to see.”

The Boilers had a two-run first inning without a hit touching the outfield grass. Bristol Schriefer reached on an error with one out before Hammond’s sacrifice bunt attempt became a bunt single. Leila Middlebrook’s fielder’s choice turned into a run when a throwing error at third brought Schriefer home, with Elise Munsterman adding a sacrifice fly the next at-bat.

Hammond and the Porters’ Bridget Faut went on to exchange scoreless frames until the Boilers again took an aggressive approach to the bottom of the sixth after Hammond worked around a lead-off walk to Addison Way in the top.

Shannon Lee led off with an infield single before Schriefer and Hammond legged out consecutive bunt hits. Middlebrook singled in Lee before Schriefer and courtesy runner Kylie Stanek joined her at home on the Porters’ third error of the day, with Liv Woolman and Alayna Sykes adding RBI singles.

With a seven-run cushion, Hammond looked to finish her no-hitter, but saw it end on Giavanna DiCiolla’s lead-off single up the middle. An error and fielder’s choice that didn’t yield an out loaded the bases for Coley Sievers, whose grounder to short got the Porters on the board.

Way added a two-out RBI single, but Hammond’s 10th strikeout of the game put the stamp on her gem, and the Boiler victory.

“Honestly, I don’t care,” Hammond said of losing her perfect game and no-hitter bids. “I want to win. That’s my end goal. I want to win. The perfect game, the no-nos, those are flashy, but for me I just want to go out there, be with my team and win.”

That’s why she pitched much later than planned. While she did pitch seven innings in a 5-4 extra-inning win against Sandburg last Thursday and all five innings of a 10-0 mercy rule win over Andrew on April 17, Tuesday was the first full-length complete game Hammond’s thrown since her injury last month.

“The goal today was for me to see the batters once and then have a different pitcher come in,” Hammond said. “But as the game went on, I wasn’t feeling much tightness or pain, so I just told [Austell] I’m going to keep going.”

While Faut’s complete game looked much better than her line of five earned runs on eight hits and nine strikeouts may indicate, Porters assistant Angela Cushman saw Hammond and the Boilers play just a bit better Tuesday.

“[Hammond] threw a great game, they played a great game,” Cushman said. “We always know when we play them it’s going to be a good game and we’ve got to be ready to play. Today was their day.”

The Porters host Lincoln-Way Central Tuesday, while the Boilers have a day off before they host Stagg Wednesday.

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Bradley-Bourbonnais' Lydia Hammond, right, and Alayna Sykes celebrate ahead of an inning during a home game against Lockport Tuesday, April 28, 2026. (Mason Schweizer)