By RICH TORRES
CARMEL – There’s no secret to the Fishers Tigers’ postseason success. It’s a matter of see ball, hit ball, and repeat.
On Tuesday night at Carmel’s Cherry Tree Softball Complex, the Tigers (15-9) followed their season-long pattern with a 13-hit outburst against defending Sectional 8 champion Noblesville to win 10-2 and advance into the title game against rival Hamilton Southeastern.
HSE run-ruled North Central 10-0 in the five innings during the evening’s second semifinal game, setting up a Mudsock rematch, which Fishers won 5-4 during the regular season this past month.
However, the Tigers are red hot, posting 23 hits in two postseason games to increase their runs total to 230 in 24 games, and they’re not looking to slow down.
“We had this plan from the start. We knew this team was good. We work together as one. We’re not individuals. So we knew going into this season that this team is special and we’re going to get far,” Fishers’ junior shortstop Brooke Benson said. “We knew we could get past sectional, to regional, semi-state and then a state championship. That’s our goal.”
The Tigers are one step away from crossing off the first of four items on their playoff to-do list, and they did it with their bats.
Seven of the Tigers starters recorded at least one hit against Noblesville and they did it with five more hits compared to their eight-hit effort to beat the Millers 5-2 during the regular season.
Focused on avenging last year’s 4-3 sectional semifinal loss to Noblesville, the Tigers led 6-0 and later 8-2 after churning out seven hits and six runs across the fourth and fifth innings.
The Tigers drove in runners in every inning but two and despite two errors, little fazed the surging Fishers’ lineup and defense.
Hannah Mays, who one-hit Carmel during the team’s 10-0 sectional quarterfinal victory by run-rule in five innings, continued her dominance with a five-hit outing against Noblesville.
Mays struck out five and walked one while not allowing a single earned run. The Millers broke up the shutout bid in the bottom of the fourth after a fielding error in left field opened the door.
Julia Furiak lined an RBI double to left-center field to plate the Millers’ first run with one out, and Maddie Taylor helped her cause with a two-out RBI single to cut the deficit 6-2.
Mays retired 10 of the final 12 batters she faced to protect the Tigers 10-2 advantage. The Millers stranded two runners in scoring position as Mays induced eight flyball outs and seven ground outs.
Similar to the Tigers’ .392 team batting average, the Millers were hitting .358 entering the semifinals, but they couldn’t get going against Mays.
“She’s had our number. We’ve played her three times now. Last year, in sectional, we did win, but she kind of stifled our offense,” Millers coach Deke Bullard said. “She throws well, mixes her pitches up, locates extremely well. And when you can do those things, it makes it very tough on an offense and you must take advantage of situations. We just weren’t able to get runners on and take advantage.”
The Tigers capitalized at will against Taylor, who had a 12-5 record entering the game with 94 strikeouts.
Courtney James went 2-for-4 with two RBI from the leadoff spot and a laced double to left field to start the game. Benson was 2-for-4 with two RBI, scoring James from third with a one-out sacrifice bunt.
Benson had an RBI double in the top of the fourth and stole home on a heads up squeeze play that failed, but she converted with her speed and the Millers finding themselves out of position to run her down.
“We didn’t have our best, and they did exactly what they needed to do. They put the ball in play and hit a lot of gaps, and they executed and scored runs,” Bullard said. “We just couldn’t do the same. We had no answer for what they were doing, so hats off to them. They were by far the better team today.”
Kaylee Kardash was 3-for-4 from the seventh hole for the Tigers, while Jade Frye went 3-for-4 with an RBI double in the fifth. The Tigers built a 2-0 lead following Kardash’s RBI single in the second inning, but the lineup caught fire in the fourth with a four-hit, four-run frame.
Fishers added four more runs in the fifth and sixth innings. Olivia Latimer led off the fifth with a double, while Sarah Bumps drove in a run with the bases loaded in the fourth despite grounding out. Caroline Bernhardt’s RBI single in the sixth pushed Fishers lead to 10-2.
“We got here last year, and we know how it feels, and so we’re just going to continue to overpower and do what we can,” Benson said. “We have the drive. We want this W, and we want to win.”
The Tigers are vying for their first sectional title since 2015-16 against HSE at 6 p.m. on Wednesday.
“Mudsock, baby,” Courtney James said. “We wanted this win tonight, and we’re not done yet. We want to keep it going. We were all upset last year. We were like, we have to go this year, we have to give it all we got.”
The Tigers aren’t leaving anything to chance, not with their lineup, which carries six players with batting averages at .400 or higher.
“With that team and what they did, they should have a pretty deep run into the tournament,” Bullard said.
But the Tigers aren’t overlooking the challenge ahead with HSE, which is eying a potential 15th sectional title in program history.
“That’s a dangerous team. They’re record doesn’t reflect how good they are,” Daren James said. “It was a 5-4 game when we played them during the regular season. That’s a good ball club and they have a lot of weapons over there, too. There will be a lot of spirit tomorrow night.”
Fishers 10, Noblesville 2
Fishers AB R H RBI
Courtney James 4 2 2 2
Olivia Stinson 3 0 0 0
Brooke Benson 4 1 2 2
Hannah Mays 4 0 1 0
Olivia Latimer 2 2 1 0
Caroline Bernhardt 2 0 1 1
Nyah Duplessis 0 1 0 0
Kaylee Kardash 4 2 3 1
Jade Frye 4 1 3 2
Sara Bumps 4 0 0 1
Abbey Schmidt 0 1 0 0
Totals 31 10 13 9
2B: James 2, Mays, Benson, Frye, Latimer. SB: Benson. SAC: Benson, Bernhardt, Stinson. HBP: Latimer, Stinson.
Fishers pitching IP R ER H
Mays 7 2 0 5
Strikeouts: Mays 5. Walks: Mays 1.
Noblesville AB R H RBI
Abby Brown 4 0 1 0
Chloe Tragesser 3 0 0 0
Ella White 3 1 1 0
Emily Minett 3 0 0 0
Julia Furiak 3 0 1 1
Rylie Moore 3 0 1 0
Maddie Taylor 3 0 1 1
Abigail Harvey 3 0 0 0
Lauren DeRolf 1 0 0 0
Alyssa Solomon 1 1 0 0
Kira Thomas 0 0 0 0
Totals 27 2 5 2
2B: Furiak, Moore, White.
Noblesville pitching IP R ER H
Taylor 7 10 10 13
Strikeouts: Taylor 5. Walks: Taylor 4.
Score by innings
Fishers 110 422 0 – 10 13 1
Noblesville 000 200 0 – 2 5 1