Staff reports
PENDLETON — While New Castle repeated as the Hoosier Heritage Conference golf champion on Saturday, the individual medalist spot came down to a playoff.
Greenfield-Central’s Noah Mohler and New Castle’s Dillon Bergum each shot a tournament-best 73. Mohler topped Bergum in the playoff, making the Cougars’ senior the individual conference champion.
Four Hancock County golfers made all-conference by finishing top eight. They were Mohler, New Palestine’s Quinn Dobbins (76), and Mt. Vernon’s Sam McWilliams (76) and Haiden Rose (79).
New Castle won the team title with a 310. Yorktown was two strokes back at 312. New Palestine finished third with a 323, Mt. Vernon was fourth with a 325 and Greenfield-Central was fifth with a 328.
Behind Dobbins for New Palestine were Matt Kelley, who shot an 80, Matthew Barada had an 82, Chris Guhl shot an 85 and Josh Shinkle added a 91.
The other scorers for Mt. Vernon were John Husar and Aden Cappelletti, each with an 85, and Elijah Dunham with an 86.
Following Mohler for Greenfield-Central were Kyle Arrowood with an 83, Zach Archer with an 84, Jordan Wray with an 88 and Canyen Palmer with an 89.
Royals finish 5th in MEC
Eastern Hancock competed in Saturday’s Mid-Eastern Conference golf tournament, finishing fifth with a 405. Monroe Central won with a 331.
The Royals were led by Gage Deiser, who finished 14th in the MEC, and John McDaniel, who finished 16th.
Softball
Dragons earn split
New Palestine had two big road games Saturday, picking up a win against Kankakee Valley, 12-0, before losing to Class 4A No. 4 Crown Point, 5-2.
Lexi Campbell and Michaela Jones homered in the rematch from 2017’s state title game against Kankakee Valley. Jones led the offense, going 3-for-4 with four RBIs. Kaylea Bullock got the win in the circle, striking out five and allowing one hit in four innings. Katie Kottlowski pitched the fifth, allowing no hits and striking out two.
In the loss to Crown Point, Jaylin Calvert had both of the Dragons’ RBIs. Emily O’Connor was 3-for-3 at the plate, and Calvert and Jones had the only other New Palestine hits. Sam Booe threw 5.2 innings, allowing six hits and a run while striking out two. Bullock pitched the final third, giving up two hits and three runs and striking out one.
Cougars 2nd in own Classic
Greenfield-Central finished second in Saturday’s Cougar Classic Tournament, topping North Central, 13-1, and Frankton, 3-2, before falling in the championship game to Seymour, 6-0.
The Cougars scored 10 runs in the second inning against North Central, while Hannah Holden pitched four scoreless frames in earning the win. Lexi Rankin hit a three-run home run in the first inning of the Frankton game, providing the winning run. Frankton got two runs back in the bottom of the inning but Macy Fultz and Rankin combined to hold them scoreless from there.
The hosts had just two hits in the championship game against one-loss Seymour, falling to 16-8 on the year.
Royals get invite split
Eastern Hancock split a pair of games at Saturday’s Blackford Invite, topping Franklin County, 16-15, and falling to Union County, 7-5.
In the win, Taylor Koch homered and drove in four RBIs with two hits. Caroline Stapleton had four hits and five RBIs. Paige Wickard had two hits and drove in three. Maddie Turner and Jessi Potts combined to allow just six earned runs, as four errors accounted for nine unearned runs.
In the loss, Turner homered and had two RBIs. Wickard had three hits, Koch had two and Kaylee Stewart also added two. Elise Bittinger threw four innings and Turner threw three, combining to allow 12 hits and allowing three earned runs.
Baseball
Royals drop two games
Eastern Hancock had its scoreless streak extended to four games on Saturday, losing a pair of games to Mooresville, 12-0, and North Central, 6-0.
The Royals had no hits in the loss to Mooresville and three against North Central, a double and single from Andy Locker and a single from Landon Stanley.
Eastern Hancock used three pitchers in the first game and two in the second. Chris Craney, Kolten Synesael and Locker combined to strike out four Mooresville batters while allowing nine hits and two earned runs. Dylan Bates and Kyle Lacy struck out five North Central batters while allowing nine hits and four earned runs.
Girls tennis
Royals 3rd in MEC
Eastern Hancock competed in Saturday’s MEC championship, finishing third with 12 points. Shenandoah won with 27 and Blue River Valley was runner-up with 21.
At No. 1 singles, Chelsi McMahan won 7-5, 6-0 in the first round before losing in the semifinal. At No. 2 singles and No. 3 singles, Cassandra Hannemann and Valentina Brooks picked up a 6-0, 6-0 win in the second round after losing an opening match.
At No. 1 doubles, Chloe McCarty and Bella Witte won 6-3, 6-3 in the second round after an opening loss. At No. 2 doubles, Corina Jennings and Madison Hagan won 6-3, 6-4 the first round before a semifinals loss.
Marauders drop 2 matches
After picking up a 3-2 win Friday against Yorktown, Mt. Vernon dropped two matches on Saturday, losing 5-0 to Franklin Community and 3-2 to Oldenburg Academy.
Mt. Vernon picked up two points against undefeated Oldenburg Academy at No. 2 doubles and No. 2 singles. Louisa Batge won at singles, 3-6, 6-0, 7-6(5), and the doubles team of Maeve Laughlin and Maddie Swingle won 6-4, 6-3.
