New Palestine High School

The New Palestine softball team used a strong offensive performance Saturday to sweep its trip to Northwest Indiana. The No. 10 Dragons beat Munster 12-4 in their opening game, then defeated Crown Point 8-5 in the second contest. Katie Hirschy and Allie Blum had big games against Munster, each delivering three hits. Hirschy was 3-for-3 with a double, a homer and five RBI. Blum was 3-for-5 with a double, a triple, three runs and an RBI. Aglaia Rudd was 3-for-5 with a triple and a run. They combined for nine of the Dragons' 18 hits. Paige Ernstes was 2-for-4 with a run and two RBI. Sydney Oliver was 2-for-4 with two runs and two RBI. Alyssa Mumaw was 1-for-5 with a run and an RBI. Maddie Engle was 1-for-4 with two runs and an RBI. Sydney Hughbanks, Reese Rosenbaum and Nyla Lewis also each had hits for the Dragons. Three different pitchers combined for the victory. Sadey Hughbanks came on in the third inning and pitched out of bases-loaded, none-out jam to preserve an early lead to earn the win with 2 2/3 innings of one-run ball. Caitlyn Hurst pitched the final 2 1/3 innings to nail dowin the victory. The Dragons pounced early. Rudd led off with a triple and scored on Blum's double in the first. Ernstes, Engle and Hirschy all followed with RBI hits to put the Dragons up 4-0. Munster scored twice in the bottom of the first to halve the lead, but Hirschy's two-run homer in the third restored a four-run edge. The Dragons exploded for five runs in the fourth. Rudd. Blum and Mumaw led off with consecutive singles to load the bases. Ernstes drove in a run with an infield hit. Oliver followed with a two-run single and Hirschy a two-run double to put NP up 11-3. The Dragons added another run in the fifth when Blum tripled and scored on Mumaw's groundout. Against Crown Point, Ernstes hit a pair of homers and Blum had a pair of doubles to pace a 12-hit attack. The Dragons wasted little time finding the scoreboard, again putting up a crooked number in the first inning when Blum drew a walk and scored on Ernstes' first homer of the day - a blast to rightfield. In the second, the Dragons loaded the bases when Hirschy was hit by a pitch, followed by singles from Rosenbaum and Jersi Gross. Blum drove in a pair of runs with a two-out double. Engle made it a 5-0 lead in the third when her single scored Ernstes - who was hit by a pitch to lead off the frame. The Dragons added another run in the fourth when Blum led off with a double and scored on a grounder by Ernstes. Munster cut the lead to 6-5 with five runs on five hits and an error in the bottom of the fourth, but pitcher Courtney Study nailed the game down from there to preserve the lead. She pitched out of a two-on, one-out jam in the fifth, retired the side in order in the sixth and allowed one baserunner in the seventh. The Dragons added insurance runs in the seventh when Ernstes led off witih a solo homer to center on the first pitch. Oliver, Engle and Hirschy followed with singles to plate another run and push the lead to 8-5. Study pitched a complete-game win, allowing nine hits, four earned runs and striking out one. The middle of the order each had two hits, as Ernstes was 2-for-3 with three runs, four RBI and two homers. Oliver was 2-for-2 with a run and Engle was 2-for-4 with an RBI. Blum was also 2-for-4 with two doubles, two runs and two RBI. Mumaw was 1-for-4. Hirschy was 1-for-2 with an RBI. Rosenbaum was 1-for-4 with a run. Gross was 1-for-3 with a run. The Dragons are now 18-4 on the season. They begin the regular season's final week Monday at Zionsville.