The unranked Mt. Vernon girls tennis team is back at it. With the weather delaying their season until Tuesday, the Marauders opened the year in dominating fashion, defeating No. 30 Franklin Central 4-1.
Sophomore Olivia Spicer had a perfect match at No. 3 singles, winning 6-0, 6-0. The No. 2 doubles tandem of Sophie Williams and Maeve McCafferty won 6-3, 6-2.
Sophomore Alaina Nelson clinched the win with a hard-fought 6-4, 6-4 victory at No. 2 singles.
Senior Cassie York battled to a 4-6, 6-2, 10-8 victory at No. 1 singles as the Marauders now stand at 1-0 on the season.
“Good win to start the season,” head coach Gabe Muterspaugh said. “The scary word is ‘potential.’ Our ceiling is high if we work harder than what we have been, but 1-0 is good.”
The Mt. Vernon junior varsity also won 3-2.
Dragons tame Tigers
The New Palestine girls tennis team cruised to a 4-1 win against Triton Central on Tuesday night.
Ivey Simmons survived an epic match at No. 2 singles, winning 7-5, 6-7 (3) with a 10-4 super-tiebreaker score.
No. 3 singles Lexi Miller won 6-1, 6-2, while Lauren Hardebeck and Katie Settergren swept at No. 1 doubles 6-0, 6-0. Josee King and Cassie Willheim posted a 6-2, 6-2 to pull away at No. 2 doubles.
The Dragons are 2-0 on the season.
Cougars blank Jackets
Greenfield-Central opened its season with a 5-0 shutout of Morristown on Tuesday.
All five positions played strong despite the layoff due to the weather.
Lindsey McCord won at No. 1 singles 6-1, 6-3. Kate Henderson rolled to a 6-1, 6-3 win at No. 2 singles. Erin Wright scored a 6-2, 6-2 victory at No. 3 singles.
The No. 1 doubles pairing of Sara Hudson and Haidyn Goodwin prevailed with a 6-1, 6-2 showing. Aly Proper and Kaleigh Stephenson won 6-1, 6-2 at No. 2 doubles against the Yellow Jackets.
BASEBALL
Marauders top Delta
The Mt. Vernon Marauders blanked Delta 2-0 on Tuesday in a Hoosier Heritage Conference matchup at home.
Kennedy Parker, Ryan Beck and Noah Powell combined to strikeout eight Eagles en route to the win.
Beck earned the win with four innings pitched as the Marauders scored both runs in the fourth and fifth innings. Mt. Vernon has six hits and allowed just two.
Beck and Bryce Robbins each had a pair of base hits, and Sam McNeely had the lone RBI.
Mt. Vernon (2-0, 1-0 HHC) returns to action at 10 a.m. Saturday with a conference doubleheader against Shelbyville.
New Pal sweeps pair
The fifth-ranked Class 3A New Palestine Dragons swept Hoosier Heritage Conference foe Shelbyville on Tuesday night.
The Dragons won the opener 10-0 in five innings behind an eight-run fifth inning and a one-hitter tossed by Zach Lovell.
New Palestine rallied from a three-run deficit in the second game to win 8-3, breaking open the flood gates with a four-run seventh.
Keegan Watson blasted an opposite-field home run in the opening game with two outs in the first inning. Jason Hall-Manley was 2-for-2 in the first game, and Lovell was 2-for-3. The team totaled nine hits.
In the second game, the Dragons had 11 hits and 22 baserunners.
Jacob Smith was 3-for-3 with a double and three RBIs. Braden Roberts was 2-for-2 with two RBIs.
The Dragons are now 4-0 and 2-0 in the HHC.
GOLF
Dragons win match
The New Palestine Dragons prevailed in a three-way meet at Hawk’s Tail of Greenfield on Tuesday.
The Dragons finished first with a combined score of 181. Greenfield-Central was second at 203. Whiteland was third at 213.
Nick Lyon won his first career medalist honor, shooting a 41 with five pars for the Dragons. Greenfield-Central’s top scorer was Noah Mohler with a 46.
SOFTBALL
New Palestine wins
The third-ranked Class 3A New Palestine Dragons opened Hoosier Heritage Conference play Tuesday with a 5-1 victory against New Castle.
The Dragons scored three runs in the bottom of the first and added another run in the third to take a 4-0 lead. New Palestine scored an insurance run in the sixth to improve to 3-0 and 1-0 in the HHC this season.
Madison Whitaker led the Dragons’ eight-hit attack, going 2-for-3 with two runs, two doubles and an RBI. Mary Crumlin had two RBIs. Elisha Barker recorded a double and drove in a run. Casey Lehman connected for an RBI-single.
Barker seized the win, scattering six hits and no earned runs over seven innings.
TRACK AND FIELD
Cougars win meets
The Greenfield-Central Cougars boys and girls track and field teams swept their three-way meet at New Castle on Tuesday night.
The boys totaled 85 points, with Scecina Memorial in second at 46 and host New Castle in third at 32.
Tommy Hembree (400 meters), Zach Bishop (1,600, 3,200), Braden Brown (high jump, long jump), Drayke Tift (pole vault) and Jacob Hochgesang (shot put) all won their events.
The 3,200-meter relay went to Greenfield-Central behind the efforts of Clayton Jenkins, Bishop, Hembree and Cooper Hanson.
The girls tallied 86.5 points to win. New Castle was second with 50.5 and Scecina Memorial was third at 23.
The Cougars won all three relays and had an individual winner in the pole vault with Emily Jones. Ava Dickmann was first in both the long jump and high jump. Jennifer Flora was first in the shot put. Amanda Flora added a first-place finish in the 200-meter dash.
Savannah Girolami took first in the 400-meter dash, and Sydney Cook won the 800- and 1,600-meter runs.
The 3,200-meter relay team consisted of Girolami, Riley Sexton, Katie Helgason and Rebekha Gottwald. Girolami was also part of the winning 1,600-meter relay team along with Haleigh Loyal, Cook and Kenzie Polster.
The 400-meter relay team included Shelby Bowmer, Amanda Flora, Dickmann and Helgason.
