By RICHIE HALL
NOBLESVILLE – On a chilly Friday night, the Noblesville softball team gave a little bit of heat to one of Indiana’s highly-ranked teams.
The Millers took on Class 4A No. 3 Center Grove at Miller Park. The Trojans went up big in the second inning before Noblesville made a comeback and turned it into a back-and-forth contest. Center Grove pulled away in the seventh inning to win 14-10, but the Millers proved they could stay with a tough opponent.
“We competed great tonight,” said Noblesville coach Deke Bullard. “I’m proud of the girl. They never didn’t fight. We could have easily packed up our tents in the second inning when they went up 6-2. And we didn’t.”
The Millers actually led 2-0 in the bottom of the first inning after Mack Harvey hit a home run into left field, also scoring Gabby Fowler (who we will be hearing more from in a little bit). The two had earlier combined for a double play in the top of the inning.
The Trojans let loose for six runs in the top of the second, including a two-run homer. But Noblesville worked its way back in the game, thanks to Fowler. She hit a center field home run in the bottom of the third to cut the CG lead to 6-4. Nevaeh Nash led off the inning with a single and went home on Fowler’s blast.
Fowler homered again in the fourth inning, also scoring Delaney Rundle, and that tied the game at 6-6. Harvey came up next and was intentionally walked – then went to second and third bases on wild pitches. Addi Emerson singled her home to give the Millers a 7-6 lead.
Both teams got hot at the plate after that. Center Grove went up 8-7 in the top of the fifth with an RBI single and sacrifice fly. Noblesville took the lead back in the bottom of the fifth, jumping ahead 9-8: Macie Duvall scored when Makayla Jacquay reached on error, then Jacquay later got home on a Rundle single.
A two-run single pushed the Trojans ahead 10-9 in the top of the sixth. The Millers tied the game at 10-10 in the bottom of the inning, with Duvall scoring again after Chloe Vetter hit a sacrifice fly. But the Trojans ran away with the seventh inning, putting up four runs.
Nash, Fowler, Harvey and Duvall all had two hits. Fowler totaled four RBIs for the game. Emme Yee pitched five and a third innings in relief, striking out five.
Noblesville has scored 25 runs in its first two games; the Millers totaled 13 runs against Western Boone in their Tuesday opener.
“If you’re putting up that many runs, you’re going to have some chances to win,” said Bullard. “We definitely are not disappointed in our performance tonight. We’ll take that and build on that and go into Tuesday and play another very talented Avon team that’s going to be tough to play in our first (Hoosier Crossroads) Conference game.”
The Millers will host Avon, with the first pitch at 6 p.m.