HANCOCK COUNTY — Mary Crumlin thought people might think she wasn’t telling the truth when they asked her how her softball season went at Marian University.
“I felt they weren’t going to believe me when I would say our record,” Crumlin, one of three Hancock County players on the Knights talented 2019 team, said.
Crumlin and Issy Hoyt, both former standouts at New Palestine High School, and Sadie Baugh, who starred at Mt. Vernon, were part of a remarkable season that saw the Knights win their first 50 games and go 54-3 before being eliminated in the postseason at the NAIA (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics) World Series in Springfield, Mo., this spring.
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50-0? You’ve got to be kidding, right?
It was no joke. The Marian Knights were that good in 2019.
“I’d never had an opportunity like this, to play with a group of girls and achieve something so great,” Baugh said. “It was absolutely amazing.”
The Knights have an outstanding program, winning four straight regionals to earn four consecutive trips to the NAIA World Series. They’ve won five straight Crossroads League titles.
This past season, they had 18 regular-season games end early due to the mercy-rule (eight-run lead by the fifth inning).
The county trio was part of a 51-7 team in 2018, but this past spring was extra special.
“It was really cool,” Hoyt said of the pursuit of winning the team’s first 50 games. “We had a great following on campus, even our professors were congratulating us.
“It was added pressure, but it was a fun kind of pressure.”
“We knew everyone was going to give us their best shot,” Baugh added. “When you’re 50-0, (every opponent) want to be the team that knocks you down.”
Crumlin, a first baseman, had 21 RBIs on the season, ranking fifth on the team, including a big one with the score tied 1-1 in the 14th inning in game No. 50 against IU-Southeast, the first game of the regional.
“Our fastest runner (Shelbie Stotts) was on third and I knew if I hit it to the right side or anywhere out of the infield she could score,” Crumlin said of her RBI-single. “I hadn’t hit well that game, so it was nice to get that run across and win the game.”
Marian lost the next game, a 1-0 10-inning decision to Baker University. They followed by winning three straight out of the loser’s bracket to take home the regional title and move on to the World Series.
They won the series opener over the University of Mobile (2-1) before dropping the next two to Oklahoma City University (3-0) and Georgia Gwinnett College (1-0).
“We knew we had the talent and ability and our end goal was to win (the national championship),” Baugh, who hit .370 and was second on the team with five home runs, said. “We just couldn’t quite do it this year.”
Both Baugh and Hoyt were first-team All-Crossroads League selections. Baugh was also named NFCA (National Fastpitch Coaches Association) second team All-Region VI. Hoyt was co-leader on the team in RBIs with 57.
“I thought, going into the World Series, we were the best team there,” Hoyt said. “I think we may have started letting some of the pressure get to us and that’s something we need to work on, but I am very proud of what we were able to accomplish.”
All three girls will be back for the 2020 season. Baugh and Hoyt will be seniors. Crumlin will be a junior. Some of the pitching graduates, but most all of the position players return. They also have the intangible of good team chemistry.
In fact, the great camaraderie among the players helped draw both Baugh and Hoyt to Marian after starting collegiate careers elsewhere. Baugh played one season at Lincoln Trail Community College. Hoyt was at Purdue University in 2017.
“Prior to coming to Marian, I already knew 90 percent of the team and had played against them since we were 12-years old,” Hoyt said.
Most of the team is from central Indiana and all are from Indiana. Along with the trio from Hancock County, the team has players from Pendleton Heights, Franklin Central, Warren Central, Zionsville, Roncalli, Mooresville, Martinsville, Yorktown and Lebanon high schools.
“I wanted to go home,” Baugh said, after playing her first season in Robinson, Ill., just across the Indiana-Illinois state line near Terre Haute. She knew a lot of the existing roster because she had played with or against them during travel ball seasons for a decade.
“It’s been great,” she added. “It’s a great coaching staff and the girls are awesome. We’re all so close. It’s not always like that in girls’ sports. To have that, you couldn’t ask for anything better.”
Crumlin said when you play 57 games in three months, you spend nearly every waking moment together.
“We’re together every single day, and it was nice to be able to do this with your best friends,” she said. “We really clicked well together.”
It was a great season, one with titles, records and bonding among great friends, but unfinished business awaits them when the 2020 softball season gets underway.
“Our goal, from the beginning, was to win (the national title),” Crumlin said. “We finished 54-3, but didn’t get done what we wanted to do and bring home the hardware. That set a fire (for next season).”
