Center Grove has hit its share of home runs this season, but it was playing small ball that gave the Trojans their biggest win to date.
Piper Belden scored from third on a wild pitch in the bottom of the seventh to lift Center Grove to a 3-2 win over New Palestine in a battle of softball No. 1s at home on Wednesday.
The game-winner capped a contest that saw two of the best offenses in the state stymied by excellent pitching on both sides. In the end, it was mistakes that proved to be the difference — all three of the Trojans’ runs were unearned.
“What it came down was that our defense made more plays, and that’s a shame for those kids (at New Palestine),” said Center Grove coach Russ Milligan, whose team is ranked No. 1 in Class 4A. “But these big games always come down to who makes the fewer mistakes.”
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Both teams collected nine hits and committed two errors but New Palestine’s mistakes came at the worst times.
No mistake was as costly as the one the Dragons committed in the seventh. After Belden reached on a one-out single, Addison Osborn beat out an infield single that saw Belden sprint to third base.
New Palestine pitcher Mackenzie Jones then uncorked a wild pitch then didn’t squirt very far past the plate, but Belden never hesitated. The Trojan junior was off as soon as the ball bounced away from catcher Michaela Jones and she slid headfirst across the plate with the winning run.
“I’m not very proud of the way we won, I’m not even happy with the way we won,” Milligan said. “Except for the fact that we put ourselves in the position that if they made a mistake, we were going to win the game.”
After the Dragons scored the first run of the game on a Tatum Biddle RBI double in the top of the fourth, the Trojans came right back to tie the game in the bottom half when Biddle’s throw to first on an attempted double play banged off of Addie Homeier’s helmet and careened away, allowing Jordyn Rudd to score from second.
Center Grove (15-0) went ahead in the sixth thanks a throwing error with the bases loaded that scored Abigail Patton.
New Palestine tied the game in the seventh when Jaylin Calvert hammered a double off the fence that just missed going out and later scored on Michaela Jones’ RBI single.
The Class 3A No. 1 Dragons (10-1) entered the game having hit 33 home runs in the first 10 games, and although they hit two balls off the fence, Center Grove pitcher Abby Herbst kept them in the park.
“I was just making sure that I was hitting my spots and I wasn’t giving them anything that they could get a hold of,” Herbst said. “I knew they were a phenomenal team and I was giving them credit. I warmed up for probably an extra 10 minutes. I just made sure that everything was moving and everything was working.”
Herbst scattered two runs on nine hits in seven innings and struck out five without walking a batter. She also got terrific defense behind her with both center fielder Clara Andersen and left fielder Jillian Ransdell making diving catches to save runs and shortstop Rudd stopping everything that came her way.
“They were phenomenal,” Herbst said with a laugh. “I told them all that I owed them ice cream.”
In addition to her pitching, Herbst also went 2 for 3 at the plate. Belden also had two hits.
Mackenzie Jones allowed three unearned runs with two strikeouts and a walk and was the hard-luck loser. Calvert had three hits for the Dragons.
Center Grove returns to action today when it travels to Lawrence Central.
