WEST LAFAYETTE — No matter how hard they tried, nobody could even come close to stopping the New Palestine softball team.
Year after year, teams have attempted to topple the Dragons. Year after year, they have failed.
There have been some regular season losses, sure, a total of six in three years. But come tournament time, the Dragons have been unbeatable since 2017.
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This year, they were simply unstoppable.
New Palestine capped the 2019 season with another dominant win, claiming their third straight state championship in convincing fashion on Saturday at Bittinger Field in West Lafayette. Against a familiar foe in Hoosier Heritage Conference rival Yorktown, the Dragons jumped ahead early and pulled away late for a 10-0 win.
“I don’t even have words for it. I’m so proud of the team. We worked so hard for this,” senior Jaylin Calvert said. “We never took anything lightly, no practice, no game. It just feels amazing to do it with this team. It’s unbelievable. It’s awesome.”
The win was historic in several ways. No team had ever won back-to-back-to-back state championships in softball before the Dragons completed their three-peat on Saturday. It was New Palestine coach Ed Marcum’s sixth state championship, a record among Indiana softball coaches. It was the school’s sixth overall title, briefly tying a state record held by Center Grove before the Trojans won their seventh title late Saturday evening.
The way the Dragons claimed the Class 3A championship was also something special. They won every game in the tournament by at least 10 runs, a state first. New Palestine outscored their tournament opponents by a combined 86-5 score.
Their dominance was on full display from the moment sectional play started on May 20 against Beech Grove. They were firing on all cylinders that day, scoring 21 runs, and they never let up.
They wanted the three-peat. They’ve been eyeing it all year.
Nothing was going to stop them.
“I think it’s cool, because a lot of athletes don’t get the opportunity to go to state even once, and we got the opportunity to go three times,” senior Tatum Biddle said. “All the girls, all the seniors are really close. I’m getting a little emotional, but it’s a good thing to go out strong and win it for everyone.”
If there were nerves to start the game, the Dragons didn’t show it. Jaylin Calvert walked to open the championship game, and Michaela Jones singled. Emily O’Connor doubled, driving in both and giving New Palestine a 2-0 lead before they even recorded an out.
“Jet (Calvert) and Mic got on, which was huge. Without them, those runs wouldn’t have scored,” O’Connor said. “Every day, we practice right-side hitting and just sacrificing ourselves. We know that to be part of this team is just bigger than ourselves. Without them, those runs don’t score. Without my hit, they don’t get around to home.”
Things slowed down from there, though, at least for a while.
That’s where sophomore Sam Booe came in.
Booe, entering the game with a 17-0 record and a 1.63 ERA, pitched perhaps the best game of her high school career on Saturday. She retired the first 14 batters she faced, finally allowing a base runner in the fifth inning after a walk.
The Tigers didn’t get a hit until the sixth inning.
The sophomore allowed just two hits, one each in the final two innings, and never allowed a base runner to advance beyond first base. She struck out six and had the one walk, finishing the season a perfect 18-0.
“Just knowing that I was going to be starting in the state championship game, I just wanted to go out and dominate,” Booe said. “That’s what I told my team: I want to go dominate and get this win for you guys. That’s what we all did. We played for each other.”
Her catcher, Raegan Hiatt, saw Booe get more locked in as the game progressed.
“I knew coming in the game she was a little nervous, but I know that she was also very confident in the team itself,” Hiatt said. “Just seeing her come out and throwing strikes, throwing gas all game… I know all of her pitches were working, and as the game went on she became more confident in herself.”
Booe got the start partially due to an injury to junior Kaylea Bullock, who had surgery Friday to repair a torn meniscus. The two had split time most of the year, but the injury meant Booe pitched the regional, semistate and championship games.
She didn’t show many signs of nerves at any point. She gave up just two earned runs the entire tournament.
“She had a great year for us. We felt like we had two aces, and that’s exactly how it turned out,” New Palestine coach Ed Marcum said. “This whole postseason, not one time did she ever feel like the moment was too big. I’m really proud of her.”
The Dragons finally blew the game open in the sixth inning after stranding eight runners in the first five frames.
Emma Tucher singled on a bunt and Kendal Calvert singled to left. Jaylin Calvert singled up the middle, driving in Tucher. Jones then hammered a ball to deep left-center.
Everyone, including Jones, thought it was gone. The sound off the bat certainly indicated it would be.
It wasn’t.
“Oh yeah, for sure,” Jones said. “I was watching that, thinking ‘there’s no way that’s not out of here.’ I was like, of course. This field doesn’t like me.”
For the second straight season, Jones narrowly missed a massive championship-game home run. The ball was caught at the top of the fence but still scored a run.
O’Connor then tripled, driving in another run. Macy Miller singled to drive in O’Connor, Hiatt singled to score another and, following a walk to Kinsey Mitchell, Tucher singled for the second time in the inning, driving in two more runs.
Tatum Biddle capped off the scoring in the seventh inning with an RBI double, giving the Dragons their 10th and final run.
In their final game in a New Palestine uniform, the senior class came up huge for the Dragons. They combined to score six runs, had eight of New Palestine’s 12 hits, and had eight of the team’s 10 RBIs.
Tucher was 3-for-4, driving in two runs. O’Connor was 2-for-3 with three RBIs. Jaylin Calvert was 1-for-2, drawing two walks, driving in one and tying a 3A title game record by scoring three times. Miller drew two walks and had the RBI single. Biddle had the RBI double.
“I don’t think anyone doubted at any point,” Jaylin Calvert said. “We’re confident in ourselves and we are obviously very confident in Sam. We just knew that we needed to back her up on offense. She had a great game pitching, the whole game, so we just knew that we needed to jump on them and keep doing what we do.”
The Dragons finished their dominant three-year run with a 90-6 record, three Hoosier Heritage Conference championships and three state championships. It was the swan song not only for the six seniors on the roster, but for the team in Class 3A. The back-to-back-to-back champions will move to Class 4A next year as they look to extend their historic run.
“It’s kind of hard to believe that it’s all over,” Miller said. “It doesn’t feel like we’re not all going to be back together again next week. It’s great that we finished our ultimate goal and we’ve been able to get it three years in a row and make history together.”
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IHSAA Class 3A State Championship
No. 1 New Palestine 10, No. 7 Yorktown 0
NP (29-3);200;007;1;—;10;12;0
Y (18-9);000;000;0;—;0;2;1
WP: Sam Booe. LP: Kaylyn Coahran.
3B: Emily O’Connor (NP). 2B: O’Connor, Tatum Biddle (NP). RBI: O’Connor 3, Emma Tucher 2, Jaylin Calvert, Michaela Jones, Macy Miller, Raegan Hiatt, Biddle (NP).
Notable: Booe 7 IP, 5 K, 1 BB, 2 H, 0 R; Tucher 3-for-4, 2 RBI; O’Connor 2-for-3, 2B, 3B, 3 RBI; Hiatt 2-for-3, RBI (NP).
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There is plenty more coverage from the New Palestine Dragons state softball championship inside.
Page B2: The rest of the story, more photos and the boxscore
Page B3: A photo page from the title game
Page B4: The rest of Brian’s column and results from the other title games
Page B5: New Palestine’s Emily O’Connor wins the Mental Attitude Award
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