The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/1470094
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Onyett moved to third on the play, and Williams raced to second to once again load the bases. That brought freshman Lakin Sorgius to the plate, and the first-year varsity per- former tagged an 0 -1 offer- ing to left-field for a single that drove in Onyett to up the score, 5 -0, with the bases still loaded, with two outs for soph- omore Brailey Mills. Mills, the eleventh batter of the inning, hit the ball to the right side of the field and Sor- gius was thrown out at second on a fielder's choice, but not before the Chargers tagged the Patriots for five runs. In the bottom of the third inning, Heritage Hills touched Williams for an unearned run to put the score at 5 -1. In the top of the fourth frame, Kavanaugh was the first Charger to step to the plate for PCHS, and she popped a 1-1 pitch to dead cen- ter field for a base hit to put a runner on first and Hunt at the plate for Pike Central. Hunt walked on a 3-2 pitch to put runners on first and sec- ond, with no outs, and Sharp the next hitter for the Char- gers. Sharp hit the second pitch so hard that there was no doubt that this ball was going, over the left field wall! That second home run of the evening gave the Char- gers an 8 -1 advantage and Sharp six runs RBIs! The next Charger was Car- nahan, and the veteran hit a double to right center that went all the way to the wall. The next two batters grounded out to give the Char- gers a runner at second, with two outs. Welch was the next Pike Central hitter to step to the plate, and the junior slapped her second hit of the day to left field sending Carnahan to third. That put runners at the cor- ners for the Chargers, but the Patriots got the third out of the frame on a ground out, but not before the eventual win- ners again "put some hurt" on Heritage Hills by adding an- other three runs to bring the Charger lead to 8 -1 after four and one-half innings. The Patriots did not score in the bottom of the fourth to keep the score at 8 -1. In the top of the fifth, the Chargers pushed another run across the plate to give Pike Central a 9 - 1 advantage. In the bottom of the fifth in- ning, Heritage Hills still could not find a way to score on Wil- liams to leave the score at 9 -1. Pike Central did not score in the top of the sixth inning, but the hosts score a run in the bottom of the sixth to re- duce the Charger lead to 9 -2. The Chargers loaded the bases in the top of the sev- enth inning, but they could not plate a run, leaving the lead at 9 -2 heading into the bottom of the seventh inning. Patriot freshman Mia Kie- gel opened the bottom half of the seventh with a single. Ju- nior Sarah Day hit a fly ball to Mills in center field for the first Patriot out. Heritage Hills fresh- man Hadley Leibering then reached first base on an error that scored Kiegel to reduce the PCHS lead to 9 -3. Junior Sarah Day hit a soft fly ball to left field for the sec- ond out for Heritage Hills. That brought sophomore Rylie Schipp to the plate for the Patriots. The first toss to Schipp by Williams was called a ball. Schipp worked Charger pitcher Williams to a full count, and on the eleventh pitch, the sophomore hit a soft ground ball to the right side of the infield. Sorgius scooped the ball and fired to first for the final out, giving the Regional Championship to the Pike Central Chargers, their first regional title since 1990 and the inception of class softball. "This is what we worked for all year," said PCHS Coach Dustin Taylor after the jubi- lant celebration by the Char- gers and their fans. "I know many people think winning a conference championship is important, and I agree, but all of us are going to remem- ber this for a very long time. "A fter we beat Gibson Southern (the No.2 ranked team in 3A) for the sectional title, we were very confident as we came into this game— not cocky, just very confi- dent." "I am so happy and pleased for our team. These kids were very deserving of this suc- cess, and now, we have to get ready for a very, very, good Tri West team in the semi-state." The Chargers outhit the Pa- triots 14-6 in the 9 -3 triumph, with Kiegel getting three of the Heritage Hills' six hits. Mills had three hits for Pike Central, while Sharp (both home runs), Kavanaugh, On- yett, and Welch all had two hits in the contest. Hunt, Car- nahan, and Sorgius each had one hit in the total team bat- ting effort to account for 14 Charger hits. Ironically, only Williams, who tossed a six-hitter on the mound, did not get a base hit for the Chargers, though she hit the ball each time at bat and got on base twice. Heritage Hills was charged with four errors in the game, while Pike Central booted the ball on three occasions. The Chargers, 18 -6 af- ter the regional champion- ship outing, took on Tri West (Hendricks County), 27-2 on the year, in the opening game of the Brown County 3A Semi- State last Saturday morning at 11 a.m. CONGRATULATIONS Left fielder Alyna Sharp makes a running catch along the left field line for an out during the Chargers' 3-0 loss to Tri-West Hendricks. Charger second baseman Lakin Sorgius (15) fields a grounder and flips it to Karley Kavanaugh at second base for an out against Tri-West Hendricks in the Brown County semi-state.