NEW PALESTINE — Four years ago, one New Palestine freshman didn’t know much about the state tournament. She certainly didn’t have any idea what winning a state softball championship would feel like.
That changed pretty fast.
As the Dragons look to secure a third straight championship today at Purdue University, Emily O’Connor, one of six seniors on the roster, remembers a day when she wasn’t used to all this winning.
“To be honest, when I came in freshman year, I didn’t really know how the tournament even worked,” she said. “I just knew that when we got to the end of the season and we lost, it was done. I didn’t even know how sectionals and regionals worked.”
She, and the rest of her New Palestine teammates, figured it out pretty fast. They lost in the regional that year, a 7-1 defeat to Lebanon. They’ve gone to the state championship game every year since.
Last year, the Dragons became just the fifth team to win back-to-back state softball titles (the 2009 Dragons were the second ones to do it). This year, they became one of just two teams in state history to win three consecutive semistate titles, the other being Lakewood Park Christian earlier this decade.
Now, the Dragons have an opportunity to three-peat, which would be historic. Nobody has ever done it.
“It’s incredible. It’s nice to be part of history,” senior Emma Tucher said. “It’s exciting to be alongside my other seniors and everyone else, trying to get the three-peat.”
All they need to do to become back-to-back-to-back state champions is defeat a well-known opponent from the Hoosier Heritage Conference, Yorktown.
The last time these teams met, less than two months ago on April 16, the Dragons steamrolled past the then-No. 3 Tigers, run-ruling them by a 17-0 tally. Senior Jaylin Calvert hit a first-inning grand slam, part of a seven-run inning that deflated the Tigers and sparked the Dragons to a blowout.
While the Dragons cruised to an HHC championship with a perfect 7-0 record, Yorktown struggled to a 2-5 conference finish. A hot tournament run, including a huge regional upset of previously undefeated Bellmont, has helped the Tigers reach the Class 3A finals for the second time in school history.
The No. 1 Dragons are in search of their sixth state title. No. 7 Yorktown is looking for its first.
The trick for both teams today will be putting the April meeting behind them. The Dragons hope to quickly give the Tigers a reminder of how that game went, however.
“Last time I checked, they’re not going to let us start 17-0 to begin the game,” New Palestine coach Ed Marcum said. “It’s still going to be 0-0 to start the game. I’m hoping if we can come out, jump on them early, they will remember the score of that game.”
“I think what we have to do is understand that Yorktown is a different team than they were then,” Marcum added. “I expect Yorktown to come out and say hey, that game’s over. We’ve got nothing to lose. I expect them to come out and compete hard. They’re going to give us everything they’ve got.”
Despite the stakes, the Dragons have worked all week to treat this game like any other, something they’ve excelled at doing for years now.
That game-by-game approach has helped them through a grueling regular-season schedule with just three losses.
“It’s another game. We’ve got to take it one game at a time,” senior Macy Miller said. “They’ve probably improved. They are there, so they obviously have earned it. We just have to stay focused and play our game, and hopefully come out with the end result that we want.”
“I just think knowing that there’s a lot more at stake for this game, so obviously they’re going to be more intense, more hungry for the game,” junior Michaela Jones added. “Keeping that in mind, I think it pushes us to work harder and stay focused and know that anything can happen.”
The Tigers are nearly as good of a hitting team as the Dragons, with a .401 batting average to the Dragons’ .405. The teams both average identical runs and hits per game.
The Dragons have the edge in almost every other area, including home run hitting and pitching numbers across the board. Their biggest advantage, however, might be found outside the box scores.
“I definitely think experience helps. We have the experience of the big crowds and the pressure of knowing if you lose, you’re done,” Miller said. “Especially with six seniors and a ton of other players that have been in this situation before. We preach one game at a time. We can’t take anyone lightly.”
New Palestine has one other possible competitive advantage, a difference from the first game that could play a big role in today’s championship game.
While the lineups will mostly be the same, the Dragons will have a different look in the circle. Junior Kaylea Bullock started against Yorktown earlier this season, and freshman Katie Kottlowski came on in relief.
The Tigers haven’t seen sophomore Sam Booe firsthand. Booe will be in the circle today due to an injury Bullock sustained.
“I think we’re super confident. We know what they have, and they haven’t seen Sam, so that’s going to be great for us,” O’Connor said. “We hope that they’ve gotten better. It seems like they have. We want a good game for our last game.”
Six seniors will be taking the field for the Dragons for the final time today. O’Connor, Tucher, Miller, Jaylin Calvert, Tatum Biddle and Sarah Greene hope to leave the field as champions yet again, making history in the process.
The Dragons will face Yorktown in today’s 4:30 p.m. game at Bittinger Stadium.
“I think just playing with all the girls that I’ve been playing with since the youth league, and some girls aren’t playing in college, so we just want to go out strong for them,” Biddle said. “In playing a team we’ve already played and beat, I think we’re going into it just like any other game, knowing that someone can beat us or we can beat ourselves. We just have to go out and play our game, for each other, and finish strong.”
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From newcomers to team veterans, members of the Dragons shared their thoughts on what makes this team special and what it means to be playing for another state championship.
“I’m so glad to just be a part of it. The confidence that this team has is such a good level. It’s not where they feel self-conscious, but it’s not enough to be considered cocky. We’re going to go out there, we’re going to do what we’re going to do. We may line out, we may have strikeouts, but no matter what, we have what we need to win. We know that every game we go into. Being a part of the three-peat culture here, especially when I have never even been past the sectional, I was like, wow. The motivation of everyone, it just all comes together and works really well. It’s really great to be a part of that instead of witnessing it from the outside.”
— Lexi Campbell, sophomore (transferred from Franklin Central)
“We’re really confident, we’re really excited. We’re playing for each other right now, and we want to have fun playing the game that we all love. We’re going into it with a positive mindset. We’re not very nervous – we’re going to have fun, we’re going to play to the best of our ability and we’re going to leave it all out there.”
— Vivian Long, sophomore
“I think we’re all really hard-working girls. We’re all really competitive and we don’t like to lose. Even though we didn’t get our undefeated goal, we really stuck to it this season and our competitive side did come out. We competed to complete, like our motto.”
— Emma Tucher, senior
“I feel like it’s honestly just relieving knowing that we made it. Now we’ve just got to prepare for the final step. It’s all come together and all our hard work has paid off to our big goal. Now we just have to finish it. One more step.”
— Michaela Jones, junior
“We know for some of us, this is our last season and now it’s going to be our last game. For some people, this is their dream to play softball, and we’re living people’s dreams out here. It’s so fun to be out here, and good things are coming from what we’re doing and we couldn’t be happier doing it together.”
— Emily O’Connor, senior
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4/2;at Southport;W 11-2
4/3;Avon;W 10-3
4/5;at New Castle;W 15-0 (5)
4/8;Columbus East;W 5-1
4/10;Franklin Central;W 8-3
4/11;at Hamilton Southeastern;W 12-2 (5)
4/16;Yorktown;W 17-0 (5)
4/17;at Zionsville;W 21-1 (5)
4/19;Mt. Vernon;W 5-2
4/22;Noblesville;L 3-8
4/24;Center Grove;W 5-2
4/27;Roncalli;W 10-5
4/27;Seymour;W 4-0
4/30;at Cathedral;W 14-2 (6)
5/1;at Pendleton Heights;W 4-1
5/2;Greenfield-Central;W 10-0 (5)
5/4;at Jennings County;W 12-1 (6)
5/4;vs Louisville (Ky.) Male;L 2-6
5/6;Shelbyville;W 7-1
5/7;Connersville;W 9-0
5/8;at Fishers;W 13-6
5/11;at Kankakee Valley;W 12-0 (5)
5/11;at Crown Point;L 2-5
5/14;Kokomo;W 6-5
5/17;at Delta W;14-1 (5)
New Palestine Sectional
5/20;Beech Grove;W 21-1 (5)
5/22;Connersville;W 11-1 (5)
5/23;Indian Creek;W 11-0 (5)
Northview Regional
5/28;Northview W;11-1 (6)
Jasper Semistate
6/1;Silver Creek;W 10-0 (6)
6/1; Danville;W 12-2
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4/2;at Elwood;W 24-8
4/4;at Blackford;W 23-2
4/6;Alexandria-Monroe;W 7-5
4/8;Eastbrook;W 18-5
4/10;at Centerville;W 10-0
4/11;Monroe Central;W 27-7
4/15;Muncie Central;W 16-4
4/16;at New Palestine;L 17-0
4/17;at Delta;W 5-1 (10)
4/23;Cambridge City Lincoln;W 16-0
4/24;at Greenfield Central;L 8-7
4/27;Shelbyville;W 8-7
5/1;Fishers;W 15-7
5/6;vs Delta;L 3-2 (8)
5/7;New Castle;L 7-3
5/9;Mt. Vernon;L 2-1
5/11;vs Indpls. Cardinal Ritter;W 2-1
5/11;at Indpls. Bishop Chatard;W 17-3
5/15;Madison Grant;L 7-5
5/16;Pendleton Heights;L 7-0
5/18;at Hamilton Southeastern;L 10-9
Hamilton Heights Sectional
5/23;New Castle;W 10-1
5/25;Hamilton Heights;W 8-7
Yorktown Regional
5/28;Bellmont;W 6-0
Twin Lakes Semistate
6/1;Hanover Central;W 15-3
6/1;Benton Central;W 4-3
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;New Palestine;Yorktown
Batting avg.;.405;.401
Runs per game:9.9;9.9
Hits per game:11.7;11.7
HRs:61;31
2B:77;70
3B:8;13
SB:25;45
ERA:1.69;3.94
K:216;172
BB:47;93
Players to Watch
New Palestine
Emily O’Connor .538 avg., 17 HR, 47 RBI
Jaylin Calvert .505 avg., 15 HR, 50 RBI
Michaela Jones .450 avg., 12 HR, 44 RBI
Macy Miller .444 avg., 6 HR, 32 RBI
Sam Booe 17-0, 1.63 ERA, 94.2 IP, 110 K, 23 BB
Yorktown
Caitlyn Grim .547 avg., 3 HR, 24 RBI
Lexie Robertson .527 avg., 3 HR, 34 RBI
Skyler Davis .422 avg., 5 HR, 34 RBI
Savannah Baker .400, 6 HR, 30 RBI
Kaylyn Coahran 14-8, 3.51 ERA, 131.2 IP, 145 K, 57 BB
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