Forest
Park 2, Pioneer 1
Indianapolis
Lutheran 4, Eastside 1.
1
p.m. Saturday, at Carmel
Forest
Park (24-2) vs. Indianapolis Lutheran (29-2-1)
Gibson
Southern 3, Woodlan 2.
Roncalli 3, Cass 0.
4
p.m. Saturday, at Carmel
Gibson
Southern (28-5) vs. Roncalli (25-9).
Castle
3, Lake Central 2.
Pendleton
Heights 4, Indianapolis Cathedral 1.
7
p.m. Saturday, at Carmel
Castle
(28-6) vs. Pendleton Heights (24-9).
At
least two first-time state champions will be crowned Saturday (June 9) as the
17th Annual IHSAA Softball Tournament reaches its final stage at
Carmel’s Cherry Tree Complex.
In
Class A at 1 p.m., Forest Park will battle top-ranked Indianapolis Lutheran in
a game that matches teams that have reached the championship game for the first
time.
Roncalli, the 1999 Class 2A champion and the only former titleist
still alive, takes on first-time state championship qualifier Gibson Southern
for the Class 2A title at 4 p.m.
And
in Class 3A at 7 p.m., first-timers Castle and Pendleton Heights will meet for
the championship.
Forest
Park rallied with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning to oust Pioneer
2-1. Indianapolis Lutheran followed with a 4-1 triumph over Eastside behind a
13-strikeout performance by Bobbi-Leigh Pietz.
In
the opener, Katie Miller reached base on a bunt single, moved to third on
Hannah Sitzman’ s single down the rightfield
line and scored the winning run on Cara Hasenour’s bloop liner over first base that dropped fair just inside
the rightfield line.
Pioneer
opened the scoring in the top of the fourth inning. Forest Park tied the game
in the bottom of the sixth inning.
In
the second game, Indianapolis Lutheran and Eastside each scored a run in the
first inning. Indianapolis Lutheran followed with three runs in the third
inning. Tara Long scored the go-ahead run on a throwing error and Heather Braun
followed on a wild pitch. Katie Longworth closed the
scoring by ripping a triple and going all the way home on a throwing error.
Unranked Castle and Pendleton Heights moved into the championship game for the first time with late scoring.
Castle scored three runs in the bottom of the fifth inning and held off third-ranked Lake Central 3-2. Stephanie Newton singled up the middle to score Ashley Lawyer from third base and a fielding error by the outfielder allowed Sarah Ford to score from second to give Castle a 2-1 lead. The Knights added an insurance run later that inning as Newton crossed home on a wild pitch for a 3-1 advantage.
Lake Central (30-4) made things interesting though as Moira Mis singled to lead off the top of the seventh and scored one batter later as Michelle Ellis’ triple to the right center wall made it 3-2. One batter later, Ellis was caught in a fielder’s choice run-down between third and home plate, which all but ended the Indians’ hopes of tying the game.
Beth Harmon (24-6) got the win for Castle, while Brooke Harmon suffered the setback (20-3).
Pendleton Heights took a 4-1 decision from unranked Indianapolis Cathedral (18-8-1) in the second semifinal.
The game was a scoreless tie through five innings before Jami Lawson nailed a two-out single in the top of the sixth that scored Becky Young and Brittney Barkdull and gave Pendleton Heights a 2-0 lead.
Indianapolis Cathedral countered in the bottom half of the sixth as Jamie Lupo hit into a fielder’s choice that scored Nicole Prior to make it 2-1. Prior had pinch-run for Courtney Kelly, who led off with a single.
The Arabians made added two more runs in the top of the seventh when Jessica Wechsler’s triple to the right center wall scored Krystle Coleman from second base. Coleman had led off the inning with an infield single and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt. Julie Owens deep sacrifice fly to centerfield then scored Wechsler to give Pendleton Heights the 4-1 lead.
Rachel Harless (11-3) was the winning pitcher and Courtney Kelly (15-7) absorbed the loss for the Irish.
Lake Central 001 000 1 -- 262
Castle 000 030 x -- 340
Pendleton Heights 000 002 2 -- 481
Indpls. Cathedral 000 001 0 -- 141