GREENWOOD — New Palestine’s powerful offense was limited to three extra-base hits and the Dragons committed several costly errors to in their first loss of the season, 3-2, at Center Grove in a battle of softball No. 1s on Wednesday.
The Dragons, ranked No. 1 in Class 3A, had tied the pitchers’ duel in the top of the seventh on Michaela Jones’ RBI single. But a wild pitch in the bottom of the inning allowed Center Grove’s Piper Belden to scamper home with the winning run.
Despite the loss, New Palestine coach Ed Marcum was pleased with the way his team played against one of the best squads in the state.
“It was a great game. We had some plays that we didn’t make and we had some opportunities to score,” Marcum said. “We always talk about situational hitting and we didn’t get the job done or it wouldn’t have come down to the last inning.”
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New Palestine (10-1) stranded nine runners on base and had plenty of chances to add to its totals. But after hitting 35 home runs in the first 10 games the Dragons were kept at bay, although they had several that nearly left the yard.
New Palestine’s first run came in the fourth when Michaela Jones hammered a triple and scored on Tatum Biddle’s booming double off the top of the fence.
But mistakes on defense haunted the Dragons. All three of Center Grove’s runs were unearned.
The first of those mistakes came in the bottom of the fourth, when Ashley Prange’s throw to first on an attempted double play banged off of the helmet of the Trojans’ Addie Homeier and careened away, allowing Jordyn Rudd to score from second.
Center Grove (15-0) went ahead in the sixth thanks to 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 scored on Michaela Jones’ RBI single.
A final mistake cost the Dragons the game. Piper Belden opened the Center Grove seventh with a single and Addison Osborne followed by beating out an infield single that saw Belden sprint to third base.
New Palestine pitcher Mackenzie Jones then uncorked a wild pitch that didn’t get very far from the plate, but Belden never hesitated. The Trojan junior was off as soon as the ball bounced away from catcher Michaela Jones and slid head-first across the plate with the winning run.
“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.”
While his team ended up on the losing end, Marcum said that Wednesday’s game will only help the Dragons down the road.
“I think we’re two of the best programs in the state and we have a good rivalry,” Marcum said. “We know that we have to play our best to beat them and we didn’t play our best today. But it was a good game for us and we’ll learn from it and hopefully keep improving.”
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.
Abby Herbst scattered two runs on nine hits in seven innings with five strikeouts while not walking a batter and also went 2-for-3 at the plate.
New Palestine travels to Shelbyville today.
