NEW PALESTINE — All it took was one pitch.
With the bases loaded in the bottom of the first inning, Jaylin Calvert stepped up to the plate against Class 3A No. 3 Yorktown and got exactly what she wanted.
“Right down the middle,” Calvert said. “It was perfect.”
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]Click here to purchase photos from this gallery
The senior blasted the first pitch she saw way over the center field fence for a grand slam. Just like that, the New Palestine Dragons were up 4-0 on Class 3A No. 3 Yorktown.
The rout was on.
Three batters later, Raegan Hiatt smashed a three-run homer to put the hosts up seven. Yorktown never had a chance to recover from a big first-inning statement made by the reigning back-to-back state champions.
New Palestine showed off its offensive prowess, hitting four home runs in the first two innings — and six overall — and moving to 7-0 on the year and 2-0 in the Hoosier Heritage Conference with a 17-0 win Tuesday.
“They’ve got some hitters, so that’s what we talked about,” New Palestine coach Ed Marcum said. “With this being a conference game, we needed to come out and try to get on ‘em early. I’d say we did that.”
The Tigers came into the game boasting a .549 batting average, far surpassing the .396 average of New Palestine. Yorktown had hit 13 home runs to the Dragons’ eight so far this season. Two Yorktown starters were hitting over .800 through seven games, but it was the Dragons who put on an offensive display Tuesday.
Calvert’s first-inning grand slam was just the start of a huge day for the center fielder, as she doubled in the second inning and hit another home run, a two-run shot, in the third inning.
She finished the day with six RBIs.
“Lately it’s been a struggle. I haven’t been my best self,” Calvert said. “I kind of told myself I need to relax. My teammates did a great job of getting on base for me, so I just needed to relax, see my pitch and hit it.”
After the two first-inning home runs and a quick 7-0 start to the game, the Dragons didn’t slow down.
Emily O’Connor smacked the second pitch she saw in the second inning over the center field fence, the Dragons’ third home run of the day. A few pitches later, Macy Miller made it back-to-back bombs. An RBI single from Hiatt pushed the lead to 10 after just two innings.
The fifth home run — Calvert’s second — came in the third inning. The final home run was O’Connor’s second, a fourth-inning shot that drove in three runs.
Seven New Palestine players had hits, led by three each from Michaela Jones and Calvert. O’Connor and Hiatt each had two hits and four RBIs, and Miller had two hits with three RBIs. The Dragons outhit Yorktown 14 to five.
“We see what our other teammates are doing — obviously, I had a strikeout and a couple other girls had a strikeout, too — but it’s good to know that the girl right behind us is going to annihilate the ball and just pick us up when we fall at the plate,” O’Connor said.
The offensive performance was what their coach said he had been expecting to see this season. On the mound, the same thing happened.
Kaylea Bullock got the win, throwing 3⅓ innings and striking out five. She allowed just two hits and no runs against one of the top offenses in the state in the early stages of the season.
“I think it’s huge. Kaylea has struggled a little bit, and she looked like the Kaylea we were expecting to see tonight,” Marcum said. “She came out just bringing it. I don’t think they’ve seen anybody like her. She was just blowing it past them.”
Things don’t get much easier for the Dragons moving forward. They are on the road tonight at Zionsville before hosting undefeated Mt. Vernon on Thursday. Saturday they head to Seymour, where a one-loss Owls team awaits.
Monday they host Noblesville and Wednesday is a big one, a rematch with the only team that beat them a year ago, Center Grove.
The Dragons are looking to carry on the momentum started last week against Hamilton Southeastern and built upon in Tuesday’s rout.
“You look through our schedule, and it’s just like, oh my goodness. It’s not going to ease up,” Marcum said. “We really don’t have any games that I would consider easy games. We’re going to have to keep it going.”
[sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”Boxscore” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]
New Palestine 17, Yorktown 0
Y (7-1, 0-1);000;00;—;0;5;2
NP (7-0, 2-0);734;3X;—;17;14;1
WP: Kaylea Bullock (4-0). LP: Kaylyn Coahran (4-1).
HR: Jaylin Calvert 2, Emily O’Connor 2, Macy Miller, Raegan Hiatt (NP). 2B: Calvert, Michaela Jones (NP); Hannah Avila (Y). RBI: Calvert 6, O’Connor 4, Hiatt 4, Miller 3 (NP).
Notable: Bullock 3.1 IP, 5 K, 2 H, 0 R; J. Calvert 3-3, 2 HR, 6 RBI; O’Connor 2-3, 2 HR, 4 RBI; Hiatt 2-2, HR, 4 RBI; Jones 3-4, 2B, 3 R; Miller 2-2, HR, 3 RBI.
[sc:pullout-text-end]