New Palestine High School

With the game tied, two outs and the bases loaded in the seventh inning, Cara Steele stepped into the batter's box with a chance to give the New Palestine softball team the lead. She did that - and then some. After two foul balls, she launched a 1-2 pitch over the leftfield fence for a grand slam that led the Dragons to a 7-4 victory over Indian Creek in Monday's softball sectional opener. The Dragons (19-7) advance to face Roncalli at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in the sectional semifinal at Indian Creek. Payton Dye and Saydie Miller had singled and Amber Hurt was hit by a pitch leading up to Steele's at-bat. Indian Creek would score a run in the bottom of the inning, but Sadey Hughbanks was able to nail the game down. It was Steele's second homer of the day - she also hit a solo blast in the top of the second to give the Dragons an early 1-0 lead. Indian Creek immediately answered, by turning two doubles into a run in the bottom of the inning, and then took a 3-1 lead as three Dragons errors allowed two runs to score in the third. The Dragons had opportunities - leaving two runners in the third and runners on the corners with one out in the fourth. But they broke through in the fifth. Dye led off with a double. Miller followed with an RBI single and advanced to third on an error. She scored on Claire Fitzgerald's base hit to tie the game, setting the stage for Steele's seventh-inning heroics. The Dragons had 12 hits in the game. Dye was 4-for-4 with two doubles and two runs. Steele was 2-for-3 with five RBI. Miller was 2-for-3 with two runs and an RBI. Callie Cromwell was 2-for-3 with a triple. Fitzgerald was 1-for-4 with an RBI and Lyndsay Goodin was also 1-for-4. Hughbanks went the distance in the circle, allowing one earned run on seven hits. She struck out four.