HANCOCK COUNTY — The guessing game is over.
On Sunday night, the sectional pairings for the 54th annual IHSAA baseball state tournament were officially announced, and for a pair of Hancock County programs the blind draw unveiled the same result but two different perspectives.
In Class 4A, Mt. Vernon received a first-round bye into the Sectional 9 semifinals, which provides the Marauders some strategic flexibility on the mound during the six-team tournament.
However, in the six-team Sectional 11 tournament, the 4A New Palestine Dragons face a difficult task despite also netting a first-round bye and an automatic berth into the semifinals at Franklin Central.
For the Pendleton Heights Sectional 9 tournament, quarterfinal games are tentatively set to be conducted on Wednesday, May 26 with the host Arabians (7-10, 4-4 HHC) scheduled to open against Hoosier Heritage Conference foe Greenfield-Central (9-4, 7-1 HHC) at 5:30 p.m.
The second quarterfinal game that same evening will be Richmond (4-8) against Anderson (13-6) at approximately 7:30 p.m. The winners of both games play in the semifinals on Friday, May 28, at 5:30 p.m.
The Mt. Vernon Marauders (11-5, 7-1) won’t play until Friday, May 28, in the second semifinal game at 7:30 p.m. against Muncie Central (2-12).
The championship game is set for Memorial Day on Monday, May 31.
“Anytime you can get that bye, it’s an advantage. You’re able to throw your No. 1 and then your No. 2 or vice versa depending on what you want to go with. It’s a good feeling to have that, but obviously, we need to stay consistent with our bats and play defense like we’ve been playing and things should work out for us,” Mt. Vernon head coach Brad King said.
With two days between the semifinals and the title game on Memorial Day, the Marauders have some options, if they can keep their pitchers under a 60 pitch count, which would only require one rest day before returning to action.
According to the IHSAA pitch-count rule, if a pitcher ranges between 61-85 pitches thrown, then that player must rest for two days and three days for anything over 86 pitches.
If a hurler totals between 1-35 pitches thrown, then no days of rest are required.
“Those guys playing that first night, if they win, then you obviously have to go with your No. 2 pitcher (on Friday) to get to the championship, but you’re No. 1 will be back ready to go, so the bye is a good thing, but we’re still going to see that No. 1 in the championship, if we’re fortunate enough to go,” King said.
“If we get a lead, maybe we can save arms and maybe we’ll have our staff for Monday. If we come out and play the way we can, that would be a great thing.”
The Marauders have four capable pitchers to utilize in seniors AJ Swingle (5-0, 2.02 ERA), Eli Clotfelter (3-0, 5.08 ERA), Nate Weaver (2-1, 5.64 ERA) and sophomore Eli Bridenthal (1-1).
The key will be run support in the semifinals, and strategic usage of their pitching staff to have their arms lined up for the title game in a potential HHC rematch with Pendleton Heights, which Mt. Vernon swept in two games last month, or against the defending sectional champion Cougars.
Greenfield-Central and Mt. Vernon play their two-game HHC series next week on May 11 and 12. The Marauders lost to Anderson 8-5 on April 26, but Mt. Vernon refrained from throwing their top pitchers in the game.
First thing, though, is the HHC race where both Mt. Vernon and Greenfield-Central are tied atop the standings.
“We talked about that yesterday at practice. Obviously, we talked about the draw. Everybody knew about it, and it’s great, but what we have to understand is we have a six-game conference schedule left to allow us to get a conference championship,” King said.
“We have to stay focused on those six games. Plus, we have another seven games out of conference. We have a lot of baseball still to play, but our major focus right now is on the HHC championship.”
Greenfield-Central is riding a three-game winning streak and face Pendleton Heights this week in their two-game conference series.
“The sectional atmosphere is always exciting,” G-C head coach Mark Vail said. “Regardless of the draw, you need to be competitive every pitch if you hope to win. We are looking forward to competing in that environment.”
The Cougars swept past New Palestine during their two-game HHC series last week to keep pace with the Marauders.
“Pendleton and Greenfield are both very talented and they both can come out of that top bracket at sectional. We’ve played Pendleton and we’ve seen their pitching. They’ve seen our pitching. Next week, we have Greenfield and they’ll see our pitching and we’ll see theirs, so their won’t be any secrets, if we’re fortunate enough to get into the championship game and compete against each other,” King said.
New Palestine (7-9, 3-5 HHC) will have plenty of time to prepare for sectional, competing in their finale regular-season game on the road at Greenwood on May 20 before not playing again until Memorial Day.
The Franklin Central Sectional 11 tournament will be conducted in two days, with both quarterfinal contests held on Wednesday, May 26.
Southport (6-5) opens against Roncalli (9-5) in the first quarterfinal game followed by Perry Meridian (9-8) against Franklin Central (2-12) later that night.
The Dragons will face Warren Central (3-10) on Memorial Day in the second semifinal at noon. The winners from Wednesday, May 26, play in the morning with the title game set for that evening on Memorial Day.
“Roncalli would probably be the No. 1 seed going in,” New Palestine head coach Shawn Lyons said. “It’s nice to have a bye, but the bad thing about it is we don’t play until Memorial Day now, so we’re going to be off a good week or 10 days, so we’re going to have to figure out some things to do to try to stay sharp.”
The other obstacle is pitching and pitch count with two games in one day.
“In a perfect world, you’d love to see us play Wednesday and Thursday with a championship game on Monday,” Lyons said. “The past three years, we played Cathedral in a standalone championship game on Monday, but it is what it is. We’ve done it that way, too.”
In Sectional 42 at Heritage Christian, the 2A Royals (4-10) open against the host Eagles (7-9) in the first semifinal game. The winner will earn an automatic berth into the championship game.
The tournament’s first game is between Triton Central (8-7) and Indianapolis Scecina (7-9) in the quarterfinal round with the winner advancing into the semifinal where Knightstown awaits after drawing a bye.
