NEW PALESTINE — Shelbyville took control early, but New Palestine found a way to take control of its Hoosier Heritage Conference destiny Thursday.
In a battle of the final two unbeaten teams in HHC softball play, Shelbyville jumped out to a 3-0 first-inning lead, but the Dragons were able to hold the Golden Bears in check while they got their high-powered offense in gear.
New Palestine got started with a Paige Ernstes second-inning solo home run and followed it with a five-run third inning in a 6-4 victory at New Palestine High School.
The Dragons, ranked No. 11 in the Softball Coaches Association of Indiana’s Class 4A poll, improved to 11-2 overall and 4-0 in the conference. Shelbyville dropped to 11-4 and 3-1.
New Palestine coach Ed Marcum is well aware there are strong 1-loss league opponents waiting on the schedule, including No. 8 Pendleton Heights (13-3, 1-1) and Hancock County rival Greenfield-Central (8-4, 1-1), but the win over the Golden Bears put the Dragons in a good spot with just three HHC games remaining.
“We talked about whichever team wins would be in the driver’s seat, but obviously we have some really good teams to play, but this (game) was key,” Marcum said. “I thought having them at home was an advantage for us.”
Marcum added a big key was to limit Shelbyville standout shortstop Kylee Edwards’ performance at the plate. Edwards, the Golden Bears leadoff hitter, got a single to start the three-run first, but the Mississippi State signee did not have a hit in her last three at-bats.
Edwards scored two of the Bears four runs, the second coming after reaching on a fielder’s choice in the fifth inning. She was due up second in the seventh inning. With one out, New Pal pitcher Courtney Study got Edwards, who has 11 home runs on the season, to fly out to right field.
Study, as she often does, relied on her defense. Known as a control pitcher more than a hard-thrower, she did not have a strikeout. She walked only one, and that came with two outs in the sixth inning.
She gave up seven hits, six were singles and four of those came in the first inning.
A night after Marcum called his team’s defensive performance in a 10-0 win over No. 1 Center Grove, one of the best he’s seen, the group duplicated it in Thursday’s victory.
“Once again, defensively, we played well,” Marcum said. “Nyla (Lewis) had a really good day in left field. The whole outfield played real well.”
Shortstop Allie Blum made a big play in the fifth inning, too. Back-handing a sharp grounder off the bat of Edwards, she was able to toss to second-baseman Alyssa Mumaw for a force out, keeping Shelbyville from having two on with no outs.
“We have to play well defensively,” Marcum said, noting the team did not do that in the two losses. “Proud of the team, as a whole, they didn’t drop their heads (after the first inning). (Cheyenne) Eads is a good pitcher and I’m always preaching, ‘We have to hit our pitch.’ Once we laid off the high stuff, we were able to square some balls up.”
Shelbyville opened the game with three straight singles. Eads not only pitched well for the Bears, she had a pair of RBIs, including an RBI-double in the fifth.
“The first inning, (Shelbyville) found holes,” Marcum added. “I thought Courtney was throwing some really good pitches. They dropped a couple in in front of us and had a couple ground balls find holes. We held them to three. They could have gotten a little more than that.”
The Dragons went down in order during their first at-bat. Ernstes opened the second with her third home run of the season, a shot over the left-center field fence.
In the top of the third, the eager Shelbyville hitters went down quickly. Study needed just three pitches to retire Hailey Pogue, on a pop up to first baseman Katie Hirschy; Eads, on a fly ball to Lewis; and Addie Stieneker on a liner to Ernstes at third.
All nine Dragons came to the plate in the third. After Lewis struck out, Syd Oliver singled up the middle. Aglaia Rudd’s liner to left field popped out of the Shelbyville defender’s glove to put runners at second and third. Blum hit an RBI-single to cut it to 3-2 and Mumaw put New Pal up for good with a double. Maddie Engle had an RBI-double later in the inning.
“Paige leading off the second inning with a home run got us started,” Marcum said. “It let our team know if we were selective we could hit her. Courtney had a three-pitch inning, and I told her in 20 years I’m not sure if I’ve seen that. Right after that we scored the five. We just kept rolling. We were hitting the ball hard and they made a couple of mistakes and we were able to take advantage of it.”
The Dragons have another big week ahead with three more home games. They host Franklin Monday, No. 2 Roncalli Wednesday and Greenfield-Central Thursday.
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New Palestine 6, Shelbyville 4
Shelbyville (11-4, 3-1);300;010;0; —;4;7;2
New Palestine (11-2, 4-0);015;000;x; —;6;7;0
Cheyenne Eads and Kali Laycock; Courtney Study and Aglaia Rudd. 2B: S – Eads. NP – Alyssa Mumaw, Maddie Engle. HR: NP – Paige Ernstes (3). WP: Study (8-0). LP: Eads (6-4).
