By CRAIG ADKINS
For The Reporter
Anything can happen in high school sports. Any team on any given day can win that pivotal game, just like an underdog defies all odds to achieve postseason success that nobody saw coming.
Over the last several years, no matter the sport, Class 4A Sectional 8 has become known as the toughest sectional in the state of Indiana. It doesn’t matter if you draw the bye game or if you play one of the first two games and must win three games to hoist the sectional trophy, all six teams in the Sectional 8 field provide quite the challenge.
Once a team survives to advance out of Sectional 8, it opens the tournament trail for hopeful advancement to the state championship game. Since 2009, five teams making it to state with three being crowned champions.
Bunnell’s 2009 team (24-6) made the program’s second state finals appearance, falling 3-2 to Fort Wayne Snider.
Noblesville (28-8) was the next to appear at Victory Field. In 2014, Justin Keever and the Millers became the first baseball state champion in Hamilton County history with a 2-1 victory over Terre Haute North.
After losing in the regional to Zionsville in 2017, Fishers (29-7) brought home the 2018 4A title with a 4-3 win over Cathedral. Matthew Cherry’s Tigers (23-13) returned to “The Vic” in 2021, but fell to Jasper, 3-1.
Between Fishers’ two trips to state, neighbor Hamilton Southeastern (23-8) captured the 4A title in 2019, edging Columbus East, 3-2.
The last four postseasons, Sectional 8 has sent three different teams to the semi-state. Westfield made back-to-back Elite 8 appearances in 2025 and 2024. The ‘Rocks lost in the semifinal on June 14 to the Goshen RedHawks at South Bend’s Four Winds Field and in 2024 at Lafayette’s Loeb Stadium in the semifinal against eventual state champion Lake Central, 5-1.
HSE (20-15) relished the underdog role in 2023. The Royals took a 16-14 record into the postseason, taking out Westfield (5-2) and Noblesville (3-1) to win Sectional 8 and cruised to a 4-0 regional win over Harrison (West Lafayette). The Royals won their semi-state semifinal against Homestead in eight innings (2-1) before losing in the championship to back-to-back state champ Penn (1-0).
Zionsville (22-12) gutted through Sectional 8 in 2022, edging host Noblesville in eight (5-4), Westfield (3-2) and Fishers (6-0). Regional wins over Harrison (13-5) and Homestead (3-1) got the Eagles back to semi-state for the first time since making it two years in a row in 2017 (lost semi-state to Penn) and 2016. Their 2016 season ended in heartbreak, losing 3-2 in 9 innings to Roncalli in the state title game.
Carmel (25-7) won its last sectional title in 2016, edging out host Noblesville (5-4) and Westfield (15-2). The Greyhounds eliminated Fort Wayne Northrop (3-0) in the regional semifinal before falling to Zionsville (8-4) in the championship at Loeb Stadium in Lafayette.
Overall, it’s obvious that Sectional 8 is the toughest sectional in the state, a gauntlet and just like the Hoosier Crossroads Conference, a “meat grinder.” It’s so hard to get out of the six-team field and to the regional round. That’s why we’re seeing more teams advance further into the state tournament once they’re able to bust out of the sectional stronghold.
The last team to win the baseball sectional while hosting was Noblesville in 2014, en route to the state championship. Before that, Zionsville (2012), Noblesville (2010) and Westfield (2008) are the only others in the last 20 years since 2005 that have won the sectional at home.
The consensus of the coaches is that there is no advantage or disadvantage in hosting sectional. Teams have to adapt to playing on the road or at home and they will have the support of their respective fan bases.
In summary, the level of competition between Carmel, Fishers, HSE, Noblesville, Westfield and Zionsville is on another level.