The Press-Dispatch
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B-2 Wednesday, June 1, 2022 The Press-Dispatch CHAMPIONS Continued from page 1 LOUIE CAMPBELL Sales Professional lcampbell@sfaulknerauto.com CALL OR TEXT 812-899-6267 @LouieYourCarGuy HWY. 64 W. PRINCETON Looking for a Great Deal On Your Next Vehicle? Onyett's grand slam seals Sectional opener By Andy Heuring Lexi Onyett hit a grand slam home run in the bottom of the third inning, to break open their game with Wash- ington in the first round of the sectional Tuesday night. They went onto an 11-1 win to advance to the championship game against Gibson South- ern. Charger starting pitcher, Chloe Williams, shutdown Washington with a no-hitter, and striking out nine through five innings. "Chloe pitched really well, no hits and only faced 15 bat- ters. She has been coming in strong the past few weeks," said Charger Coach Dustin Traylor. Through two and a half in- nings the game was score- less. But Brailey Mills start- ed off a five-run bottom of the third by hitting a 0 -2 pitch back up the middle for a sin- gle, and went to second on a throwing error. Karley Kava- naugh grounded out to third base for the first out, but ad- vanced Mills to third. Avery Hunt singled to right field driving in Mills, to put the Chargers on the score- board. Alyna Sharp singled on a grounder up the middle, and Sophie Carnahan hit a fly ball to center that was mis- played allowing her to reach and load the bases and bring- ing up Onyett. Onyett got all of a 1-0 pitch and sent it over the centerfield fence for the first grand slam of her career and the season for the Chargers. It was On- yett's third home run of the season. "She has been making solid contract with the ball recent- ly," said Traylor. Onyett is batting .379. Pike Central gave up one run in the top of the fourth, as K. Welsh walked, and then J. Ledgerwood reached on a er- ror after putting down a bunt. Pike Central then turned a double play on a grounder, but it allowed Welsh to score. The Charger offense an- swered by taking on two runs in the bottom of the fourth. Mills bunted her way on base with one out. She then stole second and advanced third on a throwing error. Kavanaugh drove Mills in with ground that got through the infield giving the Chargers a 6 -1 lead. Kavanaugh stole second and then advanced to third, when Hunt lined out to the third baseman who made a throwing error. Kavanaugh scored on a line drive to right field by Sharp, making it 7-1. They added four more runs in the fifth inning to end the game by the 10 -run rule, as they took an 11-1 lead. Onyett started the inning with a sin- gle. Williams flew out to the first baseman. Delaney Welch brought On- yett home with a double, Tes- sa Vinnedge singled to drive in Welch. Mills cleared the bases with a triple, and then scored on a wild pitch to end the game. Locally Owned & Operated | Dr. Clint Shoultz 715 S. 9th Street, Petersburg | 812-354-9400 Mon. 8-7 | Tues. 8-noon | Wed. 10-7 | Thurs. 8-5 | Fri. 8-5 SAVE 25% on all non-prescription designer sunglasses SUNGLASSES SALE Need prescription sunglasses? These frames take prescrip- tion lenses, too! Buy 1 pair prescription sunglasses, get the second at HALF PRICE! * *Insurance accepted. 2nd pair doesn't have to be prescription. COACH EYEWEAR Brailey Mills slides into third base after tagging up on a fly ball. She would score on Alyana Sharp's two-run single in the sixth inning. Chloe Williams takes a cut at a pitch. Above: A happy bunch of Chargers celebrate once they get their hands on the Sectional Cham- pionship trophy. Left: Karley Kava- naugh and Lexie On- yett share a hug fol- lowing the game. Right: Right fielder Macey Stilwell lines up a fly ball. es before Williams sneaked the third strike past her. It was probably the defining at-bat of the day for Williams. "That felt so good. She has more than 120 career home runs," said Williams of strik- ing out Blume. Williams got a fly ball for the second out, then Titan pitcher Alexis Tucker came to the plate. She also swings a big bat with a .435 average, 33 RBIs and eight home runs. Tucker hit another bullet up the middle, but again a diving Kavanaugh made the stop and threw out Tucker at first. It prevented a run from ty- ing the score at 1-0. "She had a career day against us, two home runs and two great fielding plays. Both saved runs," said May. May credited Kavanaugh's plays with changing the game. "I really think if we score or we go ahead in the first inning it is a totally different game," said Titan Coach May. Kavanaugh wasn't done. She led off the top of the fourth, crushing the first pitch of the inning over the wall for a 2-0 Charger lead. "I was seeing the ball well. It looked like a beach ball. I just kind of saw it and attacked it," said Kavanaugh. Williams continued to keep the Titans off the score- board. In the top of the sixth, Pike Central added two more runs. Brailey Mills led off with a double. She was followed by Kavanaugh who promptly re- ceived an intentional walk to put runners at first and sec- ond. Avery Hunt then drove a ball to deep right field that was caught near the fence, but it al- lowed the speedy Mills to tag and advance to third. Kavana- ugh then stole second base putting runners at second and third with one out and bring- ing Pike Central's biggest bat to the plate, with Gibson Southern's infield drawn in. Alyana Sharp took a strike and a ball, then a swinging strike. On the fourth pitch she hit a hot grounder be- tween first and second, driv- ing in Mills and Kavanaugh for a 4-0 lead. With six outs left for the Titans, Tucker hit a shot in- to center field for a single, but she was the last batter to reach base. In the bottom of the sev- enth, Williams faced the top of Gibson Southern's lineup. Long hit a long fly ball that was run down, then Williams got Adamson on a infield pop- up, which brought up Blume one last time. Williams got another pop- up that she calmly got under and waited to come down. She closed her mitt around it and the celebration began. When it was done, Williams had thrown 111 pitches, striking out one, walking four and giv- ing up five hits. "They are a talented team. . . We knew we had to play our best game and the kids did that," said Coach Traylor. Traylor said Kavanaugh set the tone for the game with her two early home runs. "She gets down on herself think- ing she doesn't hit well, but man, she popped out of it to- day. She squared up on it and hit the ball hard. (It was) her first two home runs of the year. What a day to do it. The ball was heavy today. There was no wind. It is just fantas- tic," said Traylor. "They have fun," said Tray- lor of the Chargers. "They walk out there and they aren't afraid to make mistakes. They don't hold onto it, if they do make mistakes. They bounce right back and go," said Tray- lor. Traylor said a good example of bouncing back was the last two weeks of the season. "We had a rough stretch. We played North Posey and Gibson and Tecumseh all in the same week. That is three of our six losses. It was stiff competition and that was what we needed to see. We needed to get kicked in the mouth a little and realize we have a lot of work left to do," said Tray- lor. Traylor also praised his pre- decessors at Pike Central. "When Rick Weisman and Dewayne Austin started the program, basically they kicked off softball in southern Indiana. I mean, softball start- ed at Pike Central for the most part, tradition-wise. Later, Boonville comes in and Gib- son establishes themselves and now Tecumseh. But I feel like it all started at Pike Cen- tral. I want them (Charger players) to understand when they put the uniform on, that is what they are putting on. That is the expectation and I think that is what we reset this year," said Traylor. STATE TOURNAMENT PAIRINGS Saturday night all that was left was to celebrate. They re- ceived a fire truck ride with si- rens back to Pike Central. Tuesday night after dead- line, Pike Central played Her- itage Hills in the regional. The winner of that game plays at 11 a.m. at Brown County against the winner of the Tri- West Hendricks (26 -2) and Danville (17-6).