Daily Reporter staff reports
BRAZIL, Indiana — Like they did through their entire softball sectional, the New Palestine Dragons cruised to a run-rule win in Tuesday’s regional round.
The No. 1 Dragons traveled to Brazil to take on No. 6-ranked Northview and kept their state tournament run going with a six-inning, 11-1 win.
“We came through with a lot of big hits tonight. We found some holes,” New Palestine coach Ed Marcum said via phone. “We just kept enough pressure on them to where they had made a few mistakes that just kind of opened things up for us.”
New Palestine took the lead early and added to it throughout the game, finally breaking things open in the third inning. The visitors loaded the bases on a walk to Macy Miller and two errors. Kinsey Mitchell hit a two-run single to extend the lead to 4-0. A walk to Emma Tucher again loaded the bases. Kendal Calvert’s RBI groundout added another run. Two more runs scored after a passed ball, capping a five-run inning and extending the edge to 7-0.
Northview’s sole run came off a solo home run in the third inning. Michaela Jones responded by blasting a three-run homer in the fifth to extend the lead to 10-1.
The Dragons had 14 hits in the game, while Northview had just four.
Jaylin Calvert was 4-for-5 with two doubles, two runs scored and two RBIs. Mitchell was 3-for-4 with a double, a run and two RBIs. Miller was 2-for-3. Jones had the three-run homer. Emily O’Connor had a hit and an RBI. Tatum Biddle had a hit and a run. Tucher had a hit and scored twice. Kendal Calvert had a hit, two runs and an RBI.
Sam Booe pitched six innings, allowing four hits, one earned run and fanning four.
“Sam pitched great,” Marcum said. “She gave up the one home run, but other than that, they never got a girl to third base.”
The victory gave the top-ranked Dragons their third consecutive regional championship and the 10th in school history. They advance to Saturday’s Jasper semistate, where they will play Silver Creek in the 11 a.m. semifinal.
The winner of that game will face either No. 4 Danville or Heritage Hills in the 7 p.m. championship game.
