New Palestine High School

The New Palestine softball team was three outs away from a regional title, only to see Cascade rally and tie the game in a wild bottom of the seventh innings. Having surrendered momentum and the lead, the Dragons needed a spark. They got it right away. Leading off the eighth inning, Jersi Gross launched a pitch over the leftfielder's head. It rolled to the deep outfield fence in the corner. Gross was already to third base when the leftfielder retrieved the ball, and motored home for an inside-the-park homer to give the Dragons the lead back. They'd keep going - scoring eight runs on seven hits in the eighth inning to beat Cascade 11-3 and clinch their second straight regional title. The game featured a matchup of two of last year's State Finalists - the Dragons were the defending 4A runners-up and Cascade the 2A champion - and lived up to its billing. The game started out a pitcher's duel - both teams threatened multiple times, but Cascade's Grace Gray and the Dragons' Sadey Hughbanks kept working out of jams. Finally, the Dragons struck in the bottom of the sixth as Gross worked a one-out walk. Katie Hirschy followed with a two-out, two-strike base hit up the middle. That brought up senior Maddie Engle, who blasted the first pitch she saw through the teeth of a howling cross-wind well over the leftfield fence for a three-run homer. WIth a 3-0 lead, the Dragons looked to be on their way to a regional championship, especially after Hughbanks pitched around a one-out single in the sixth and was facing the bottom of Cascade's order in the seventh. Cascade's first two hitters hit grounders to the left side. On the first, Engle's throw was slightly wide of the bag, but Katie Hirschy stabbed it. However, the third-base umpire overruled the original call and ruled the runner safe. Another error allowed another runner to reach and a run to score. Back-to-back singles followed, plating a run and cutting the deficit to 3-2. A wild pitch put both runners in scoring position with none out. Hughbanks coaxed a grounder to the circle for the first out. Another grounder to Hirschy at first followed, but it allowed the tying run to score. With the potential winning run on third, Hughbanks induced a grounder to second to end the frame. With the tide of momentum having swung, the Dragons seized it right back with Gross' inside-the-park homer. Payton Dye followed with a base hit up the middle, forcing Cascade to change pitchers - as Gray had thrown well over 160 pitches in the contest. New pitcher Grace Parks struck out the first batter she faced, but Engle came up and laced a run-scoring double into the right-centerfield gap and giving the Dragons some breathing room at 5-3. Amber Hurt then reached on an error, putting runners on the corners. A strikeout recorded the inning's second out, but the Dragons then got the merry-go-round going, as the next seven batters reached. Kenna Tweedy worked a walk to load the bases. Saydie Miller drilled a two-run single up the middle to make it 7-3. Catherine Trebley rolled a single to left to add another run, and an errant throw home allowed Miller to score from first. Gross, who started the inning, continued it with a double to left, plating another run. Dye then singled to left to bring home Gross with the eighth run of the inning, and causing Cascade to bring Gray back to the circle. Back-to-back walks loaded the bases, but a strikeout ensured no further damage. But the damage was done. Cascade loaded the bases in the bottom of the inning on two singles and a walk - sandwiched around a comebacker to the circle. But Hughbanks induced a soft lineout to second base, and a grounder to short to end the game and clinch the regional title. The Dragons threatened every inning, and had multiple baserunners in seven of their eight at-bats. They left two runners on in each of the first four innings, then loaded the bases in the fifth, but were unable to score as Gray recorded the big outs when she needed to. Meanwhile, Hughbanks also had to pitch around a lot of traffic against a very talented Cadets lineup. While the Dragons had baserunners in every inning, Cascade put runners on in all but one - Hughbanks pitched the only 1-2-3 inning of the game in the bottom of the fourth. Both teams left double-digit runners on base - the Dragons 15 and the Cadets 10. She pitched around a pair of one-out singles in the second, getting a grounder to short and a strikeout to end the threat. In the fourth, Parks hit a triple that was lost in the sun by the Dragons' outfielder, but Hughbanks retired the side with a flyout to short center and a groundout to short. After a perfect fifth, she pitched around a leadoff single in the sixth, finishing it with two strikeouts. Hughbanks scattered nine hits and did not allow an earned run in the game. She walked one and struck out four. At the plate, the Dragons had 15 hits. Engle, the Dragons' cleanup hitter, was 3-for-4 with a homer, double, two walks, two runs and four RBI. Gross was 2-for-5 with an inside-the-park homer and a double - both in the eighth inning - a walk, three runs and two RBI. Dye was 2-for-6 - with both hits coming in the eighth - with an RBI. Hirschy was 2-for-3 with a run and three walks. Tweedy was 2-for-2 with two walks and a hit batter. Miller was 2-for-4 with a run, two RBI and a walk. Trebley was 1-for-4 with an RBI. Amber Hurt was 1-for-5. The second-ranked Dragons improved to 26-4 on the season. They will play No. 1 Cathedral at 1 p.m. in Saturday's semistate at Jasper. Charleston and Evansville Memorial will meet in the 11 a.m. semifinal.