Softball: Royals win showdown with Millers

The REPORTER

Hamilton Southeastern won a Hoosier Crossroads Conference showdown with Noblesville 5-3 on Thursday.

The Millers scored all three of their runs in the first inning. Haley Schatko hit a two-run home run, also scoring Blythe Walker, then Reese Newsom was brought home by Lilly Brown’s sacrifice fly.

The Royals struck back in the third inning. Madison Burlingame smacked her own two-run homer, also scoring Jaycee McCarter.

Southeastern scored the go-ahead run in the fifth inning. McCarter singled in Addy Richmond and Kaleah McCarter to give the Royals a 4-3 advantage. Sophia Feher added a sixth-inning run after Richmond reached on error.

Richmond and Burlingame both had two hits. Carly McCall pitched three innings for the win, allowing just one hit.

Izzy Zapp and Newsom both got two hits for the Millers, with Zapp hitting a double. Addison Retzinger pitched a complete game, striking out eight.

Southeastern improved to 3-1 in the conference and 14-3 overall, while Noblesville is 2-1 in HCC play and 11-5 overall. Both teams play another conference game today: The Royals host Brownsburg, while the Millers play at Fishers.

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Fishers also picked up an all-county win on Thursday, beating Hamilton Heights 9-7.

The Huskies scored three runs in the top of the first inning. McKenzie Jackson batted in Heather Crays for the first run, then Lily Cash doubled in Jackson and Hannah Dent.

The Tigers got two runs back in the bottom of the first after Anna McGrath hit a center field home run, also scoring Kennedy Shockley.

Crays scored Ellie Engle in the second inning with an RBI groundout, pushing Heights ahead 4-2. But Fishers took the lead in the bottom of the second with three runs. Cate Summerfield tripled Liv McNall home, then scored the tying run on Shockley’s RBI fielder’s choice. Adrianne Cook singled in Shockley to put the Tigers up 5-4.

Dent scored on a wild pitch to tie the game in the top of the third. The score stayed at 5-5 until the bottom of the fifth, when Fishers put up four runs.

Grace Waltermann singled in Frankie Jackson for the go-ahead run, then both she and McNall scored on Shockley’s line drive single. Summerfield scored after McGrath reached on error.

Engle hit a solo homer for the Huskies in the sixth inning, then Dent smacked her own solo homer in the seventh inning. She finished 3-for-4 at the plate.

As for Fishers, Summerfield also went 3-for-4 at the plate, while Jackson also hit a double. CJ Smock got the pitching win, with five strikeouts in five innings.

The Tigers are 13-6 and host Noblesville tonight in an HCC game. Fishers dropped a 6-4 conference contest to Avon Wednesday, making them 1-3 in the league. Heights is 11-3 and hosts Logansport on Tuesday to begin a Hoosier Conference series.

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Carmel dropped a 14-6 game to Center Grove on Thursday.

The Trojans scored four runs in the top of the first inning. The Greyhounds’ Chloe Junkersfield hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the inning, also scoring Ellie Goddard.

Center Grove led 5-2 midway through the third inning, but Carmel scored twice in the bottom of the third. Junkersfield singled in Jayden Kleiner and later scored on an error.

Both teams hit home runs in the fifth inning; Megan Pike hit a leadoff homer for the Hounds, keeping them within 7-5. Klein hit her own home run in the sixth inning, keeping Carmel within 8-6 before the Trojans scored six runs in the seventh.

Klein was 3-for-4 hitting while Kleiner smacked a double.

The Greyhounds are 10-9 and play at Mooresville on Friday.

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Westfield lost to Roncalli 3-2 in a Thursday home game.

The Royals scored a run in the first inning, after which Reese Mahannah scored a run for the Shamrocks on an error in the second inning. Cam Pulice scored after Mahannah drew a bases-loaded walk in the sixth inning, putting Westfield up 2-1. But Roncalli hit two home runs in the seventh inning to win the game.

Shea Vohs pitched 6.2 innings for the Rocks, striking out five.

Westfield is 10-8-1 and plays tonight at Mt. Vernon.