INDIANAPOLIS — With a runner on first base, one out and down 2-1 in the count against Franklin Central’s Macee Roberts in the bottom of the fourth inning, New Palestine ace Sam Booe was looking for a potential double-play ground ball.
Instead, Roberts rocketed a low, comeback line drive off Booe’s knee that jolted the University of Louisville commit momentarily.
Booe paced around for a bit after third baseman Lexi Campbell collected the ball and fired it over to Vivian Long for the out at first base.
The trainers came out and looked her over as Booe stretched out her knee, but she didn’t stop her stride. Neither did the Class 4A No. 5 Dragons.
Unbeaten prior to their meeting with 4A No. 12 Franklin Central (4-3), the Dragons built a 7-0 lead after five innings and despite a late comeback by the Flashes, New Palestine hung on to win its sixth straight, 10-8.
“It hurts, but it’s fine,” Booe said after the Dragons’ third road game in six days. “I tried not to let it affect me, but at the end, it hurt. I just had to push through it.”
The Dragons (6-0) collectively showed their grit in a regular-season matchup that had a playoff feel between two ranked teams and potential Sectional 11 foes.
The Dragons and Flashes combined for six home runs, 16 RBI and early-season statements in what could be a difficult 4A postseason road ahead.
Booe finished the game and collected her second pitching win this season with seven strikeouts, one walk and eight earned runs allowed, while also polishing off her first complete, seven-inning game this year.
“Sam, obviously, didn’t have her best stuff tonight, but they were hitting a lot of good pitches,” New Palestine head coach Ed Marcum said. “I’m proud of her for staying out there and finishing. I wanted to let her compete and work through it.
“I think she’s fine. It will be sore tomorrow. It was a shot. We talked about maybe taking her out, but we felt she was doing a great job. She came back the next inning and was fine.”
Booe struck out the batter she faced in the bottom of the fourth, getting Franklin Central’s Grayce Marcum to strikeout looking, and retired the Flashes in order during the fifth.
The Dragons were scoreless through the first two innings until Booe (1-for-3) ignited the offense with a lead-off home run — her first this season — in the third inning that sailed over the center field wall inside the Coach Kathy Stricker Softball Complex.
A throwing error plated another Dragons run in the top of the third while an RBI single by Alexa Holman gave New Palestine a 3-0 lead.
A three-run home run by Kinsey Mitchell (2-for-4) in the top of the fourth scored Long and Allie Blum (1-for-3, RBI). In the top of the fifth, the Dragons went ahead 7-0 after Campbell (2-for-4, two RBI) belted a solo home run to lead off.
“Kinsey hit her first high school home run and absolutely launched it,” Marcum said. “That was exciting.”
From there, things got a little tense.
In the bottom of the sixth, the Flashes, who honored their coach with the complex’s naming ceremony prior to the first pitch, applied the pressure.
Franklin Central, which beat 4A No. 15 Avon 6-1 on Tuesday, got hot, crushing two solo home runs by Abby Madere and Roberts. A two-run homer by Maddi Weaver highlighted its four-run inning.
“A lot of credit goes to them. They stayed with it. They could have folded. I knew they wouldn’t because that’s not the type of team coach Stricker coaches, so I knew they would fight back,” Marcum said.
Coach Stricker, who began teaching and coaching 42 years ago, accepted her first job out of Franklin College at Maxwell Intermediate School in Greenfield. She helped coach the high school basketball team during her one year in Hancock County before she started at Franklin Central.
In March 2019, she was diagnosed with cancer that was discovered in both her lungs and bones. The cancer has moved to her liver, but is contained, though in Stage IV, she said.
Stricker retired from teaching last year during the COVID-19 pandemic, but coaching softball remains one of her soothing outlets, along with her Dream Team support network.
“I’m always about my kids. I want this to be them, not me. I appreciate the honor. It’s awesome, but I’d like it to say, ‘Franklin Central girls.’ That’s just me. It’s special,” Stricker said.
“I have terminal cancer and some day it’s going to take me, but hopefully in the meantime, I can keep continuing to do what I do, and I love what I do. It keeps me moving. As long as I’m moving and I’m doing, I’m good.”
The Flashes tried to secure the win for their coach, trailing 10-4 entering the bottom of the seventh.
New Palestine added three runs in the top half, capitalizing on a hit batter with the bases loaded to score one, a wild pitch to plate another with bases packed once more and an RBI single by Campbell.
“What I was most proud of was how we answered back in the top of the seventh,” Marcum said. “We could have put our heads down, but instead, we put three more runs on the board, and a good thing we did.”
The Flashes scored four runs in the seventh behind a two-run single by Olivia Colip and a two-run double by Roberts against Booe. Both came with two outs.
“They just kind of got a little bit of a roll. Sam hasn’t pitched a full game yet, so that’s just part of it. Just working through some things,” Marcum said.
She figured it out with a runner in scoring position and the Dragons clinging to a two-run lead. Needing only three pitches, Booe secured the win with a swinging strikeout.
“It was really hard. I know most of the FC girls and the seniors, and I knew they could hit the heck out of the ball, and they showed. I just tried my best to keep with it,” Booe said. “With the field naming and everything, it was crazy. It really felt like a big game.”
The Dragons have one more on the road today at No. 18 Hamilton Southeastern and then a home game against No. 10 Carmel on Friday.
“It’s brutal. We knew going in, on the road at East Central (Tuesday), here, and then making the trip to HSE. Great programs. And, then Carmel coming to us on Friday. We knew it was going to be a tough week,” Marcum said. “We’re really glad with how the girls competed tonight and happy they ended up being able to pull it out.”
