New Palestine High School

The New Palestine softball team pulled away in the late innings Monday to beat Beech Grove 13-1 in the sectional opener. Katie Hirschy was 4-for-5 with a double and a homer, while Kylee Beranek was 3-for-3 with two doubles and a run to lead the Dragons' 17-hit attack. Hirschy's solo homer in the opening frame got the Dragons started. BG answered with a run in the bottom of the first, but the Dragons took command with a four-run second. Kenna Tweedy reached on an error and Beranek followed with a single. Saydie Miller drove in both with a double to center. After two outs, Payton Dye and Hirschy delivered back-to-back RBI singles to give the Dragons a 5-1 lead. The Dragons made is 7-1 in the fourth when Dye was hit by a pitch and Hirschy doubled. They scored on a sacrifice fly by Maddie Engle and an RBI single from Amber Hurt. The Dragons added another run in the fifth when Beranek doubled and scored on an error. The Dragons added five in the seventh to put the game away. Catherine Trebley hit a one-out infield single and scored on Jersi Gross' triple to left. Dye followed with an RBI double and Hirschy a single to put runners on the corners. An error allowed one run to score. Callie Cromwell and Kenna Tweedy followed with RBI singles. In addition to Hirschy and Beranek's multi-hit games, Gross was 2-for-5 with a double, a run and an RBI. Dye was 2-for-4 with three runs and two RBI. Hurt and Cromwell were each 1-for-2 with an RBI. Tweedy was 1-for-4 with a run and an RBI. Cara Steele was 1-for-1. Miller was 1-for-4 with a double, a run and two RBI. Trebley was 1-for-3. Sadey Hughbanks earned the win, allowing four hits, one earned run and striking out 12 in six innings. Tweedy pitched a perfect seventh with one strikeout. The Dragons (23-4) advance to Tuesday's 5 p.m. semifinal, where they will face Greenwood, which drew a bye.