Staff photo / Neel Madhavan. Champion's freshman catcher Josie Perhach (right) celebrates with pitcher Gabby Gradishar (second from right) after beating Poland in Saturday's district final at Hubbard.

HUBBARD — Champion senior Gabby Gradishar has put up eye-popping numbers and set countless records during her career with the Golden Flashes.

As a hitter, she set the school’s career home run record (52) last week and the school single-season batting average mark (.640) last year, while also breaking the career runs record. Then as a pitcher, she’s also surpassed more than 700 strikeouts for her high school career.

However, compared to previous Champion greats, one thing is still missing from Gradishar’s resume — a state final four appearance.

After Saturday’s 9-1 thrashing of Poland in the Division V, Northeast 3 district final to capture their third straight district championship, Gradishar and the Flashes are one step closer to that goal.

“You go back through the years, and there’s been so many wonderful pitchers. And Gabby, she’s just been wonderful,” head coach Cheryl Weaver said. “What a bat she has (too), and she knows the game. What’s so special this year is with all the freshmen in the infield and her being the only senior, they really look up to her and she’s helped groom them to be a better team. We’re very proud of Gabby, and I’m so glad we’re going back to regionals with her. This time, we gotta try to do this for her, so that she can be in there with that elite group (of former players).”

Gradishar has such a notable reputation with her bat, that Poland opted to intentionally walk her in each of her first two at-bats.

“It was a little frustrating because I love to hit, but I knew my team was behind me,” Gradishar said. “I knew I could do my part running the bases, so that really helped.”

It took the Flashes two innings to fully get their bats going. An RBI triple from Taylor Rouan scored Gradishar after her second intentional walk. Then Rouan scored on a wild pitch by Poland’s Madison Medvec, and Adalyn McIntosh belted an RBI to score Ava Sylvester.

Sitting on a 4-0 lead, Champion added five runs in the fifth and sixth innings. Gradishar finally got a chance to hit in the later innings, belting a pair of doubles, which included two RBIs in the sixth inning. In the circle, she finished with 11 strikeouts and no walks.

“Just see ball, hit ball,” Gradishar said. “I really love hitting, so being able to actually stay in at bat was really good.”

Sylvester and Rouan each added RBIs of their own in the fifth and sixth innings, respectively, while one more run scored on a Poland error.

Poland’s lone run came on a solo shot home run by Lillian McDonald in the top of the fourth inning. The Bulldogs got seven hits off Gradishar, but left eight runners on base throughout the afternoon.

“It’s momentum,” Poland head coach Jim Serich said. “We gave them three or four runs. We don’t do that, play a little cleaner defensively and keep putting pressure on them, you never know what happens. But I thought our approach at the plate, against that pitcher, was a pretty good day.”

The Bulldogs finish the season 13-13, but graduate just one senior, Kylee Hudran, from a young team that has shown a lot of growth throughout the year.

“It’s been a rollercoaster ride, but it’s been a good ride,” Serich said. “Only losing one senior and bringing all the pitchers back next year, so things look really bright for us. … With the nucleus coming back, when you end like this, maybe next year there’s that want to get back. We’ve been in the district final, I think, three of the last five years and just can’t quite get over the hump. Maybe with this crew, we can get over the hump next year.”

For a program as decorated as Champion’s, success is measured by state tournament runs.

“We’re held to very high standards, so we really come out to play every game,” Gradishar said. “We take it one game at a time because any day, we can go home.”

However, it’s been six years since the Golden Flashes’ last appearance in the state final four, and every season, Weaver has hopes that her team is able to experience all the things that come with making a run to the state tournament.

“From the time these girls come in (to the program), where we practice, there’s banners up with the state teams — there’s signs up at our field,” Weaver said. “So they see it all the time. We’re constantly reminding them, and it’s there to remind them of what can be done and what can happen if you put your heart and soul into it. I’m hoping that this really fueled something because I don’t think they realize how much this truly means to everybody and the community to make it to regionals again.”

As Champion chases that state appearance, a familiar foe stands before the Flashes in Wednesday’s regional semifinal next week — South Range.

The Raiders eliminated Champion from the postseason each of the last two years.

“Well, three’s the charm right?” Weaver said. “We have to be focused. South Range has always been a well-groomed team, no matter what year you play. So we have to be down, focused and aggressive — that’s what we have to be in order to get past them. My hat’s off to their coaches too, they always do a wonderful job. I have all the respect in the world for them, and we have to go in there with all the respect in the world for them. But we cannot fear them.”