LAPEL — Eastern Hancock softball had won 14 straight games coming into Friday night.
No. 15 might have been their most impressive yet.
It was a win over Class 2A No. 7 Lapel, was the Royals second straight win over a ranked team, and capped off a perfect 5-0 week.
On Monday they defeated Heritage Christian 12-0, on Tuesday beat Cambridge City 11-0, on Wednesday knocked off a 10-4 Frankton team 3-0, and on Thursday defeated No. 11 Union County 4-0.
Friday, the 14th-ranked Royals closed out the week on the road at Lapel High School with a 2-1 win over the Bulldogs (12-4).
“It feels amazing. The girls fought hard, they didn’t give up and didn’t quit,” Eastern Hancock head coach David Trackwell said. “There was a lot of chirping between the teams and that can definitely affect some emotions throughout the game. I’m proud of my girls for fighting through and showing a lot of heart.”
When asked if he thought this week would go as well as it did, Trackwell had a quick response.
“Not really,” he said.
For the Royals though, a 5-0 week is just the icing on top of what has been a lights-out stretch of softball.
The win was the Royals 15th straight after an opening-game loss to Class 4A Brownsburg.
“We discussed how the schedule is getting harder and harder from here on out. It’s going to be a lot more difficult. We’re really going to have to step our game up to win some of these battles,” Trackwell said. “I know they’re getting tired because we’ve been playing a lot, but that’s no different than travel ball where you play all weekend, so they’re conditioned for it. We do a lot of arm care and leg work to try our best to stay healthy.”
The winning streak has been fueled by the arms of Kenna Stewart and Tatem Adams. The Royals have shut out opponents in nine of their last 11 games. The only two runs allowed came in a 12-1 win over Knightstown on April 22 and in Friday’s 2-1 win over Lapel.
To beat Lapel, both Stewart and Adams came up big once again.
Stewart got the start and threw 6.1 innings of near-perfect softball.
The Bulldogs reached base in the first inning on a walk, but were caught stealing, had one single in the second, one walk in the third, reached on a hit-by-pitch in the fourth, had one single in the fifth, and used two hits and a walk in the sixth to score their one run.
Twelve of the 19 outs Stewart recorded came on strikeouts.
Up 2-0 going into the bottom of the sixth, a leadoff bunt single by Lapel’s Tatum Harper and a double by Laylah Gore put runners on second and third. Harper came into score on a passed ball.
With runners on second and third with two outs, a hard line drive off the bat of Karlie Jannings was caught by a leaping Sammie Bolding at shortstop to save the lead.
“We had some discussions about bringing Tatem in earlier, but Kenna was pitching well. They got a bunt down to start the sixth, and I thought we should’ve got her. We wanted to see how she would start the seventh,” Trackwell said. “If they got a hit or walk we were going to make the change, especially with the top of the order coming up. It would’ve been their fourth time seeing Kenna, so we knew it was the right time to make the call, and we have all the faith in the world in Tatem.”
After the second batter of the seventh walked, Trackwell made the call. Adams came in with the tying run on first and the top of the Bulldogs order coming up to bat and shut things down.
She got Krystin Davis to ground into a fielder’s choice and struck out Harper to end the game.
“These athletes, between Tatem and Kenna, have been absolutely stellar. They have been phenomenal in the circle, and have just been pitching lights out,” Trackwell said. “Kudos to them. They’ve been working hard, and it’s nice to see them be rewarded.”
Offensively, Eastern Hancock did all of its damage in the third inning. Camyrn Blue singled to lead things off and later advanced to third on a Bolding single before scoring on a Lapel throwing error trying to catch Bolding stealing second.
After advancing from first to third on the error, Bolding stole home to add to the Royals lead.
On the night, the Royals had eight hits. In the second inning, they stranded runners on the corners, in the fifth left runners on first and second and in the sixth left runners on second and third.
“The last couple games we went from scoring double digits to four and then three and now two. We definitely have to have a better game plan at the plate. We need better execution when we’re going to attack,” Trackwell said. “Lapel did a great job of making us pop the ball up, so we have to get better at working backside and hitting those first-pitch strikes.”
Bolding had a double in the fifth to go along with her second-inning single, while Lilli Ringer and Blue both singled twice.
Eastern Hancock takes on North Decatur at home at 5:30 p.m. on Monday.
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Eastern Hancock 2, Lapel 1
Eastern Hancock (15-1);002;000;0;—;2;8;0
Lapel (12-4);000;001;0;—;1;4;1
Kenna Stewart, Tatem Adams (7) and Camryn Blue; Karlie Jannings, Ava Zdanowski (7) and Laylah Gore. 2B: EH -Sammie Bolding, Alina Alford. L – Laylah Gore. WP: Stewart (8-0). LP: Jannings (5-2).
