New Palestine’s Katie Hirschy, left, and Courtney Study celebrate moments after their win over Center Grove, earlier this season. They had a lot to celebrate Thursday, too, with a big Hoosier Heritage Conference victory at Pendleton Heights.
Tom Russo | Daily Reporter
PENDLETON — After a loss to Greenfield-Central five games ago, New Palestine ceded control of the traveling conference bat.
It took them just one week to earn it back.
The statement made in Thursday’s 11-2 win over No. 6 Pendleton Heights, was bigger than just the return of the traveling conference bat.
It was another win over a top 10 team — the Dragons’ third — a win that all but clinched a share of the Hoosier Heritage Conference title, and a dominant win over a team the Dragons could see in the sectional championship in a few weeks.
“We let that conference game last week fall, and it was disappointing, but once Pendleton beat Greenfield-Central, we knew that they had the bat. That’s what we’ve been talking about all week, taking the bat back and taking care of the conference,” New Palestine head coach Ed Marcum, whose team is No. 7 in the Class 4A Softball Coaches Association of Indiana, said. “We basically knew that this was for the conference title, so it was a big game. The girls came out ready to play, played great defensively, and Courtney pitched great, but when you put runs on the board early that helps.”
It took just two batters for a team that had hit 33 home runs on the season coming into the game to increase that total.
Shortstop Allie Blum increased her team lead to seven with a solo shot over the left field fence at Pendleton’s Legends Field.
That was the beginning of a big evening for the New Palestine offense against three different Pendleton Heights pitchers.
Eliza Findlay got the start in the circle for the Arabians, and the Dragons offense forced her out of the game in the third inning.
Following the Blum home run, Maddie Engle doubled in two more first-inning runs.
“That’s the best feeling as a pitcher,” New Palestine starting pitcher Courtney Study said. “It relieves the pressure a bit because you know that you have some runs there to work with.”
In the second, Katie Hirschy notched her fifth home run of the season, and Alyssa Mumaw singled in the Dragons’ fourth run.
After batting .429 as a freshman a season ago, Hirschy had yet to find her rhythm at the plate this year, and came into the game batting just below .200.
She raised that mark above .200 with a 3-for-5 day in which she drove in three runs.
For Marcum, and the Dragons offense, the emergence of Hirschy, can make an already intimidating New Palestine lineup, even scarier as postseason play approaches.
“We keep saying that we’ve got to have [Katie] if we want to make a postseason run. We keep moving her down in the order hoping that it’ll come through, so that was big,” Marcum said. “Getting a home run there to start got her going, and she just had some really good at bats and swings. That gives us a lot at the bottom of the order, you usually don’t have a kid with that much power down there.”
The Dragons scored four runs on five singles in the fourth off of Ari Rector, a sophomore making her debut at the varsity level, and added another in the fifth after a Paige Ernstes’ leadoff double set up Engle for another RBI base knock.
Engle led the Dragons with three RBIs, and Ernstes led the way with a four-hit night.
In the circle, Study improved to 10-1 on the season. She threw all seven innings, gave up two runs on 10 hits, struck out three and only walked one batter.
“Honestly, it was my changeup. In the middle of the game it wasn’t working so well, but at the end I felt like I got some easy pop-ups and a few strikeouts with it,” Study said.
A solo home run by Bo Shelton in the first, and an RBI single by Kelsey Day in the fifth were the only two blemishes by Study on the night.
In the second, Pendleton Heights loaded the bases, but a ground out to Blum ended the threat, and in the third, fourth and seventh the Arabians put two runners on base. Each time, Study worked out of the jam.
“Early she wasn’t hitting her spots, and fell behind some hitters, but then she settled in,” Marcum said. “She made some big pitches when we needed it the most, though. She did a great job.”
The Dragons head north for the weekend and will play both Crown Point and Munster on Saturday
New Palestine 11, Pendleton Heights 2
New Palestine (16-4, 5-1);321;410;0; — ;11;18;0
Pendleton Heights (16-5, 3-2);100;010;0; — ;2;10;2
Courtney Study and Aglaia Rudd. Eliza Findlay, Ari Rector (3), Morgan Humble (5) and Sydney Clark. 2B: NP – Maddie Engle, Paige Ernstes. HR: NP – Allie Blum (7), Katie Hirschy (5); PH – Bo Shelton (6). WP: Courtney Study (10-1). LP: Eliza Findlay (8-5).
