Senior pitcher Julia Varhola isn’t a regular in the Hempfield batting order, but she is always ready to dig in and hit.

“We’ll see her hitting in practice, and she’ll drive one and give me that look, like, I’m ready,” Spartans coach Tina Madison said. “She wants to be in there. We put her in today, and it worked out.”

Varhola not only held Canon-McMillan hitless, combining on a five-inning no-hitter with freshman Jayelyn Luft, but she went 3 for 3 with a triple and five RBIs as No. 1 Hempfield returned to action in a big way Tuesday with a 13-0 victory in the WPIAL Class 6A semifinals at West Mifflin.

After 13 days off because of a quarterfinal bye and a spread-out 6A playoff schedule, Hempfield (20-1) put on a hit parade, racking up 17 of them. Eight starters notched at least one hit as the Spartans stayed on track for WPIAL title No. 10.

Senior Lauren Howard finished 3 for 3 with a walk, double, triple and five RBIs for the Spartans, who will play No. 2 Seneca Valley (15-5) in next week’s WPIAL championship Wednesday or Thursday at Cal (Pa.).

Varhola, a James Madison commit who struck out five and walked one in four innings before Luft worked a 1-2-3 fifth, delivered a three-run triple in the first to get Hempfield going. And once the Spartans got going, there was no stopping them in a machine-like effort.

“Hitting the ball hard is a good sign,” Madison said. “We have been working hard. We haven’t been in coast mode.”

Hempfield loaded the bases in every inning, making solid contact throughout the lineup and restocking the bags with its slap hitters as it 10-runned the Big Macs (9-11) for a third time this season.

The Spartans have won 18 games in a row.

Varhola had three RBIs coming into the game. She more than doubled her season total.

“I need that first hit to get going,” Varhola said. “I just wanted to be there for the team. Getting the early lead helps a lot. We wanted to make a statement today.”

Luft went 3 for 4, senior Claire Mitchell had two hits and a walk, freshman Jocelyn Luft had two doubles and two RBIs and junior Abby Magill had two hits.

Howard’s two-run single made it 5-0 in the second. It followed a single by McGill, a double by Mitchell and a bunt single by Jayelyn Luft.

An eight-run fourth overwhelmed Canon-McMillan, which had two baserunners for the game.

Jocelyn Luft cracked a two-run double, Varhola singled in a run and junior Emma Rigby and senior Emily Bozek had RBIs to increase the lead to 10-0.

Howard’s three-run triple capped the scoring.

“We were ready to go today,” said Howard, a Virginia commit. “We felt different about (the semifinal) and wanted to treat it more serious than we have in the past. We can’t just come in expecting to win.”

Canon-McMillan was seeking its first finals appearance since 2021.