Campbell softball slugger Chloe Steiniger gets mobbed by her teammates after her second homer during Saturday's 18-6 Division III title game win over Hopkinton in Concord. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

It was a championship game performance for the ages.

Really, how else do you describe the game by Chloe Steiniger in helping to propel her Campbell High School softball team to the Division III title on Saturday, the Cougars’ first since they won three straight from2013-15?

All Steiniger did was go 3 for 4 with a double, two homers, a sac fly and seven runs batted in. Even the senior catcher’s one non-run producing at-bat was loud, a line out to third in the Cougars’ 18-6 walloping of the Hopkinton Hawks.

Steiniger finished with 10 home runs for the year, and two years ago in the title game was in the outfield. She took over behind the plate for Abi Gray after Gray graduated two years ago and is now playing at Southern New Hampshire University. “I had big shoes to fill,” Steiniger said.

Softball is Steiniger’s number one sport, but she also plays volleyball. She’s headed to Nichols College in the fall and they’ve told her she’ll be a third baseman. But all the way through a championship middle school career and the final two years of her high school career she’s been a catcher. She caught every game this season.

But oh, that bat.

“Powerhouse,” Campbell coach Eric Gibbons. “Against a pitcher we prepared for, and we knew what we were going to be doing. …

“Her hitting today was phenomenal, on point for sure. Everyone was htting. Hitting is contagious. … And this is not the first time we’ve seen that.”

Definitely, not for a team that hit .403 going into Saturday in 18 games, all victories. And the fact Steiniger had played in the title game the Cougars lost to Hopkinton 2-0 two years ago – the last time there was a season thanks to the pandemic – helped.

“These seniors all played in that game as sophomores,” he said. “They’re veterans.”

And Steiniger was just one of many hitters throughout the season that had monster games. For example, Riley Gamache hit for the cycle one game.

“They took their turns,” Gibbons said. “I made it clear to them that this isn’t about you, it’s about us. And they responded very well.”

Steiniger now moves on to Nichols and the world of third base, but Gibbons said the college might want to take another look at that plan.

“She can play third,” Gibbons said. “But I think if her college coach paid any attention to this, she’d be thinking about putting her behind that plate. She calls – her and I talk all game, she reads the signs. She knows how to read batters, she’s a very heads up, high softball IQ player.”

Going in, Gibbons said he expected a close game. And when the Hawks closed to within 7-6 in the third inning, it was where he thought it would be.

Enter Steiniger, and that all changed.

“I thought this game would be won by one or two runs,” Gibbons said. “But it’s great to close the deal and get these girls a championship.”

SATURDAY’S OTHER TITLES

In the games played at Nashua involving non-locals, Concord’s Jonah Wachter no-hit Winnacunnet, striking out 14 at Holman Stadium as the Tide took the Division I crown 4-0, while in the nightcap John Stark beat St. Thomas 10-3 for the Division II title. Meanwhile over at Rivier in softball, Salem beat Concord 5-1.

In Division III baseball, Monadnock beat Somersworth for the crown, 10-0.

In the other two boys lacrosse title games, Portsmouth beat Timberlane 9-6 for the Division II title while Trinity of Manchester topped Plymouth in Division III by the same score.

Newsletter