When Lydia Hammond joined the Bradley-Bourbonnais softball team as a freshman, the Boilermakers were fresh off of their first regional championship season in over a decade.

And while Hammond and the Boilers have plenty more they want to accomplish over the coming weeks, they made some school history Friday. Hammond threw a one-hitter in the Class 4A Normal Community Regional championship, a 2-0 Boilers victory that gave them their fifth straight regional championship.

Not only had the softball program never experienced a five-year stretch of plaques, but the Boilers became the first program in school history to accomplish such a feat.

“I think it’s grown into something huge,” the four-year starter Hammond said. “I remember stepping onto the field as a timid freshman and coming out here not really realizing how big a regional win is. I remember playing on this field before, and yeah, we won regionals one year and I noticed all the older girls celebrating like wow, this is a huge deal. Knowing we’ve done this five straight times, every time I’ve been so grateful to step on this field or any other field and get a regional win. It’s huge.”

Hammond helped her own cause with an RBI double that scored Shannon Lee in the first, and after stranding a total of five batters in the first two innings, the Boilers saw that 1-0 lead nervously remain into the sixth.

The top of the sixth is where Hammond allowed her one and only hit, a seeing eye single off the bat of Abby Zeman with two outs. But after Hammond got a Bailey Engel flyout to get out of the inning, the Boilers played small ball to get some insurance.

Leila Middlebrook singled to open the bottom of the sixth, and with Kylie Stanek in to run and Evi McIntyre at the dish to pinch hit, McIntyre laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt. Elise Munsterman bunted for a single to put runners on the corners before Abbie Hofbauer walked to load the bases for Alayna Sykes.

Sykes roped a shot down the first base line, and while Avery Head was there to smother it for an unassisted groundout, Stanek scored to give the Boilers breathing room in the seventh, with several players chipping in for a single run.

“Leila did a great job of getting it started, having a great at-bat of seeing five pitches, and then a senior coming off the bench and laying a bunt down sets the tone,” Boilers coach Haylee Austell said. “After that, Munsterman was able to do the same thing. I’ve found when girls don’t just do it, they say this is how you do it, the girls respond to it.”

As much as she appreciated the breathing room, Hammond wound up not needing that insurance. She fanned 14 in her shutout performance, allowing a hit, a walk and a hit batter apiece. The Loyola commit had a little something extra on her riseball, and after Normal started to adjust to it, Hammond was able to mix in low fastballs to stay in control.

“I noticed at the beginning that they weren’t as disciplined and swinging at the riseball,” Hammond said. “But slowly as time went on, I noticed they became more disciplined and weren’t swinging at it. I had to adjust from there and get some more low strikes that they were taking. I knew my riseball might be a good 0-2 pitch rather than right off the bat.”

Middlebrook had a 2 for 3 day at the plate while Hammond (2B, RBI), Munsterman, Abbie Hofbauer, Sykes and Avery Moutrey had a hit apiece.

The Boilers (24-8) will return home to host the Class 4A Bradley-Bourbonnais sectional. As a No. 1 seed, they’ll face No. 2 East Moline, who defeated Pekin 3-2 Friday, in Wednesday’s semifinal. They’ve won a pair of sectionals during their recent stretch, including last season, but the chance to do it at home makes next week a bit more special.

“I’m so excited,” Lee said. “We talk all the time about taking it one game at a time, and we’ve been taking it a game at a time since last Tuesday. We wanted to win Tuesday to get to today, and we knew we needed to win today to get to next week and be back at home, which we wanted all season. We get to be back with all of our fans, the atmosphere is going to be great and that’s what I’m so excited for.”