NEW PALESTINE — Ace. Gamer. Competitor.
On Thursday night, New Palestine senior Sam Booe embodied all three, and she carried one more for good measure against Hoosier Heritage Conference rival Mt. Vernon at Dragons Stadium.
Motivated.
Never one to live in the past, Booe’s memory fueled her fire during the Class 4A fifth-ranked Dragons’ conference opener, and she used it to score some revenge, while quieting one of the HHC’s most-prolific offenses.
Booe stuck out 13 batters without a single walk to lead New Palestine (9-0, 1-0 HHC) to a 3-1 win over the Marauders (9-2, 2-1 HHC) and a ninth straight victory.
“Rivalries. They really get me fired up,” Booe said after she improved to 4-0 on the year with a 2.59 ERA. “Their pitcher was from Noblesville, and they beat us my sophomore year, so I really wanted to capitalize. Can’t do it again.”
In 2019, the Dragons rolled to a 29-3 record en route to a third consecutive 3A state title. Of those three setbacks, two came to programs from Indiana, including Noblesville, where, now Mt. Vernon senior, Maddie Taylor played and bested New Palestine, 8-3.
Not this time.
The Dragons plated two runs in the bottom of the first inning behind an RBI double from sophomore Aglaia Rudd and an RBI ground out by senior Lexi Campbell to give Booe all she really needed.
Booe, a University of Louisville recruit, retired the first nine hitters she faced, including the initial six by strikeout — three looking and three swinging — to halt Mt. Vernon’s attempt at a ninth consecutive win.
The Marauders carry a season batting average of .433 with 23 home runs, 158 hits and 146 runs scored through 11 games at 14.3 runs per contest.
Booe limited Mt. Vernon to two hits overall and posted 10 strikeouts after the completion of four innings.
The Marauders only had two base runners — one via an error in the top of the fifth — and if not for Davenport recruit Riley Hasseld, the Dragons could have posted their second shutout of the season.
Hasseld cut the Dragons’ 3-0 lead down to two runs in the top of the sixth, blasting a one-out, solo home run for her first of the year and only the fourth allowed by Booe this spring.
Hasseld also reached base on single to lead-off the top of the fourth, but she was stranded after Booe struck out a pair and induced a pop out to second base.
“Big hit from (Riley). Awesome senior moment, great leadership, great captain, does a lot of great things,” Mt. Vernon head coach Veronica Kirby said. “They were going to score. They’re a good team, and we knew that, and we knew we would have to score. Overall, not what we wanted but not totally disappointed absolutely.”
The Dragons, who are hitting .375 with 83 runs scored in nine games (9.2 per contest) utilized their patience at the plate against Taylor, who surrendered three earned runs while striking out eight and walking two.
New Palestine had four hits overall, but senior Kinsey Mitchell put together two six-pitch at-bats, including one to start the bottom of the first for a walk, to go with a seven-pitch plate appearance in the fifth from the lead-off spot.
Batting behind Mitchell, an Indiana recruit, her Big-Ten bound teammate, junior Alaina Miller (Illinois) followed suit in two of her three at-bats, taking seven and battling through 10 pitches.
Mitchell’s opening walk set the stage for Rudd’s RBI double down the right-field line before Campbell, an Akron recruit, drove in her 19th RBI with a grounder to shortstop in the first inning.
“We knew (Taylor) could throw hard. We knew she could pound some strikes in there, but we also knew she could be a little wild at times. We knew she had a good change-up. We tried to lay off of it as much as we could,” Booe said. “I really think they just went up and tried to knock the (heck) out of the ball because that’s what we need. Runs. We need base runners.”
A lead-off double by freshman Allie Blum in the bottom of the fifth helped the Dragons drive in an insurance run, 3-0, after freshman Sydney Oliver sacrificed Blum to third base.
Mitchell’s second drawn walk put two runners on base before Miller hit a chopping ground ball over Taylor’s head to score Blum on an 0-2 count.
“I thought that was huge and scoring those two runs in the first inning. You could tell after the top of the first that Sam was on. Now, you’d thought they catch up to her, but getting those two runs early was huge,” New Palestine head coach Ed Marcum said.
“I thought the girls’ approach was really good. As a coach, you think about the last time we faced her, and the last time, a couple of years ago, we had a lot of walks, but we didn’t quite have the same approach that I thought we did tonight.”
In 2019, the left-handed Taylor walked eight batters and struck out five through 7.0 innings as a Noblesville Miller to collect the win over the Dragons.
After New Palestine went up 2-0 on Thursday, Taylor settled in, striking out five straight and didn’t give up a hit until Blum’s double in the fifth.
“She definitely showed some great leadership and great poise. She got in there. I told her I was proud of her. That one inning where she gave up, she came back and focused in,” Kirby said. “The girls look up to her and they want to be successful for her because they know she’s out there working hard, too. If anyone is more upset about this loss, it’s Maddie, for sure. She’s one of the most competitive girls I have on this team.”
Booe and the Dragons were just a bit more opportunistic, and they have to be with 4A No. 8 Decatur Central ahead on the schedule at home this Saturday, followed by key games against 4A Noblesville at home on Monday and 4A No. 6 Center Grove on Wednesday.
The Dragons play 4A No. 14 Shelbyville, another HHC foe, on April 29 and then host 4A No. 1 Roncalli on May 1.
“I think the next few games, next week, we’re really going to capitalize on who we are,” Booe said. “It really is a constant challenge. Next week we have Noblesville, Center Grove is a big game. Shelbyville is going to be a big game. They have a lot of good hitters, and then we also have Roncalli on May 1. It’s a big week. It never ends.”
The Dragons aren’t shying away and either are the Marauders, who will learn from the loss.
“(Booe) threw a great game. She has some talent, and it took us a while. We kind of got in our heads early on, didn’t make the adjustments that we needed to, but it’s good to play teams like this. It’s good to have these opponents,” Kirby said. “We need to prepare and be willing to grow from moments like this.”
