SMYRNA — It’s no secret that off speed is one of Kylee Hill’s biggest strengths in the pitcher’s circle.

Even when they know it’s coming, opposing hitters still have trouble putting the bat on the ball when Hill is hitting her spot.

The Laurel High starting pitcher struck out eight batters and surrendered just one earned run in the Bulldogs’ 4-3 win over Smyrna High in Friday night’s Henlopen Conference championship game.

“That off speed is my go to, and everyone knows it,” said Hill. “It’s either, you get lucky and they swing and they miss, or sometimes they get a bloop — but today, we got it.

“I was very nervous, especially in that last inning — I walked out there and my hands were shaking. But that’s just where I had to dig deep and trust my defense.”

Though it’s the first official softball conference championship game between the Henlopen North winner and Henlopen South winner, Laurel last captured the Henlopen title six years ago.

“They’re scrappy,” Laurel coach Jodi Green said of her team. “We’ve been working on taking our plan to the plate because in the beginning of the year we were a little undisciplined and we needed to work on that so that’s what we’ve been working on, taking our plan to the plate and they’ve been executing.”

Both teams will await the release of the DIAA state tournament bracket, with Laurel (15-4) set to make the program’s first tourney appearance since the 2015 season and Smyrna (12-6) looking to defend their 2018 and 2019 state titles.

The two teams met earlier this season with Laurel coming out on top with a 9-5 win on April 23. The win came during Laurel’s 10-game winning streak.

Hill and her teammates knew it would still be a difficult challenge even though they had already beaten them once this year, especially considering Hill had struggled with walks in the previous showdown with the Eagles.

“I just didn’t want to take them easy,” said Hill. “I knew that we still had to come out and play hard because Smyrna was going to give it everything they’ve got — and they did. So, the biggest thing for them was just to keep going hard and not slacking up.”

Couri Smith scored two of Laurel’s four runs, including the go-ahead run in the top of the seventh on an Ashlyn Ullman groundout. The senior outfielder also collected a game-high three hits.

“She’s a little Alka-Seltzer,” Green said of Smith. “I’m just tickled with her. Couri’s just a leader, she’s our captain — she was voted on as the captain — and she gets the girls going, not only with her bat but also momentum-wise, with her personality, and she uses that to benefit the whole team.”

Hill, Bailey Ullman, Makenzie Whaley and Peyton Givans each recorded a hit for the Bulldogs.

Senior Payton Dixon struck out five batters and went 2-for-4 with a pair of RBI for the Eagles. Taylor Lipkins, Gianna Duca, Makayla Brantley, Meghan Shirey, Kirsten Johnson and Hailey McCutchan recorded one hit each.

Laurel got the scoring started in the top of the third when Bailey Ullman drove in Smith on a bunt single.

Smyrna had an answer in the bottom of the third when Dixon drove in Brantley on a single to centerfield, knotting the game 1-1. The Bulldogs regained the lead with a pair of runs in the top of the fourth.

Trailing 3-1, Smyrna plated a run in the bottom of the fourth and Dixon’s RBI single to right field in the bottom of the fifth scored Lipkins to tie the tie the game back up, 3-3, to set up Smith’s go-ahead run in the seventh.

“It feels amazing,” said Hill. “We all worked hard and gave it everything we’ve got and Smyrna gave it everything they’ve got, but in the end we came out on top and it feels great.”

“We look at this as a free game against a good team and now we’ve got something to show for it as well, so we’re excited,” said Green.