Kat Hoffman likes math, which explains the black scribbles on her right hand. It’s an exponential growth graph she picked up in calculus class and carries onto to the softball field.

There’s a point in the upper-right quadrant of that graph where Hoffman and the Milan High School team is sitting right now, well beyond any previous Big Reds squad.

After an 11-0 Division 2 quarterfinal win over Grand Rapids South Christian on Tuesday, the senior pitcher points to the spot where the line on the graph reaches its apex. That’s where she hopes the Big Reds are headed when they travel to Battle Creek this weekend.

“This is the end, this is when we want to peak,” she says. “And we’re doing it so good. I’m so proud of this team right now.”

Graphs aside, the math you need to know from Milan’s mercy-rule shortened win over South Christian at Michigan’s Alumni Field are the numbers in Hoffman's final line: 5 innings pitched, 1 hit allowed and 11 strikeouts among 16 Sailors' at-bats.

And just in case South Christian (22-13) had any hope of scratching out a run or two against her, the Milan offense wrapped things up early by scoring five runs in each of the first two innings.

The No. 5-ranked Big Reds (31-2) play No. 7 Saginaw Swan Valley (39-2) in a state semifinal at 4 p.m. Friday at Bailey Park in Battle Creek. Either No. 2 Livonia Ladywood or No. 4 Stevensville-Lakeshore will be awaiting the winner in Saturday’s 3 p.m. championship game.

Both Milan and South Christian were playing in the quarterfinal round for the first time in school history, but it was the Big Reds that looked like they truly belonged there.

Milan coach Stacy Heams said she was a little surprised by the lopsided score, but not that her team looked so comfortable in such a big game played on a big stage.

“We just came in playing how we’ve been playing,” said Heams, who played at Michigan from 1989-92 and achieved one of her own dreams by coaching at Alumni Field.

“I told the girls, ‘It’s just like any other game. Go out there and play ball, that’s what you love to do. Don’t think about it being quarterfinals, just have fun.’”

The fun started early.

The Big Reds pounded a pair of Sailors pitchers (Kristin Gesink and Anna Timmer) for five runs apiece to take an early 10-0 lead.

Hoffman went 3-for-4 with a run scored from the leadoff spot, senior shortstop Nena Doran scored three times and blasted a triple to the base of center field wall and junior catcher Dray Garrett drove in three runs, including a two-run double to the wall in left-center in the second inning.

And when the Big Reds weren’t running out one of their 11 hits, their aggressive base running lured South Christian into a pair of two-run throwing errors.

That offensive support made Hoffman’s job from the pitching circle a little more stress-free.

“I like the close games, but I’ll take this too,” Hoffman said. “This is awesome.”

South Christian’s only hit came in the top of the first inning, when a Megan DeVries blooper fell just beyond the reach of Doran and onto the lip of the outfield grass. That was one of only two balls that left the infield against Hoffman, a soft flyout to right in the third inning being the other.

“She’s a phenomenal pitcher,” Heams said of Hoffman. “I’ve never seen a kid work as hard as her. She’s always trying to outdo what she did the day before.”

Rich Rezler is a sports producer and copy editor for AnnArbor.com. Contact him at richrezler@annarbor.com or 734-623-2553.