By RICHARD TORRES
For The Reporter
NOBLESVILLE – Patience and persistence finally paid off for the Westfield Shamrocks on Monday night.
Unable to clear the sectional tournament’s first hurdle since the 2010s, the Shamrocks put their postseason drought to rest with a decisive 10-0, five-inning, run-rule victory over Carmel to open the Class 4A Sectional 8 quarterfinals at Miller Park.
Sophomore ace Chloe Tanner pitched a two-hit shutout with 10 strikeouts, and the Shamrocks bats supplied 15 hits overall to secure the program’s first sectional win in seven years.
“We beat Carmel earlier in the year (13-8), and I knew they would come in feisty. That game was 10-0, but it didn’t play like a 10-0 game. They’re a talented group of kids, and they’re going to be back right there in the mix with everybody else,” Westfield head coach Brian Revercomb said. “But our kids tonight, I want to celebrate our kids. That’s a pretty big sectional win for us.”
A program without a sectional title in school history, the Shamrocks (15-13) came out like true contenders, plating four runs in the bottom of the first while batting around and later scoring at least one run in each frame to advance into Wednesday’s semifinal round against host Noblesville (14-10-1) at 8 p.m.
The Carmel Greyhounds (6-16) entered the postseason as winners in four of their last seven games, but they could only muster two hits against Tanner, who surrendered a single to Lily Sullivan in the top of the first and a one-out double to Sophie Esposito in the third.
“When Chloe is on, we’re usually at our best. She’s young. She’s a sophomore, but man, she has composure and just gets the job done,” Revercomb said.
Her consistency was evident as the right-hander retired the final eight batters she faced, including six by strikeout. Tanner walked one hitter in the top of the second, but she also struck out the side to end the top of the fifth with Westfield up 9-0.
She opened the night with two consecutive strikeouts and left all three Carmel base runners stranded – two in scoring position – as her defense provided four putouts.
“I was nervous obviously, so just coming out strong in the first inning was really helpful and just knowing I had my team behind me helped so much because it was so stressful to be honest,” Tanner said.
“That’s what I love about it. We have this really nice little relationship where they know what I need, and then I can help them, too.”
Tanner aided her own cause by going 2-for-3 at the plate. She drove in a run with an RBI single in the bottom of the fourth to make it 9-0 before frosh Sofia Easterhaus finished the game with a walk-off, two-out RBI hit in the fifth.
“How cool is that? We have a freshman in centerfield starting in Makayla Watson, and she was 3-for-3 tonight,” Revercomb said. “I called Sofi (Easterhaus) up about halfway through the season from JV because she was just killing it, and I had tons of confidence in her to get the job done, and Annika (Lawrence, a freshman) scored the (final) run. That’s awesome to have young kids helping us out like that.”
The Shamrocks’ mix of two seniors, six juniors, four sophomores and four freshmen have the team in position to challenge for a title. The sectional final is set for Thursday night at 6 p.m.
No. 13 Hamilton Southeastern (19-7) will face Zionsville (8-14-1) in the first semifinal game Wednesday at 6 p.m. Westfield beat HSE, 1-0, on May 9 during the regular season and Zionsville, 3-0, on May 2.
“Seniors Maggie (Roh) and Allie (Dolenc) are right there leading us. They do it in different ways. They’re not overly vocal leaders, but they just go out there and play the game,” Revercomb said. “They just get it done, and we have some juniors that go out there and get the job done.”
Dolenc paced the Shamrocks’ hit parade against Carmel by finishing 3-for-3 with two RBI. Easterhaus went 2-for-4 with two RBI. Sophomore Avery Banas was 2-for-3.
Westfield’s other RBI were credited to Watson (3-for-3), sophomore Ava Kainrath (1-for-2), junior Cara Snedeker (1-for-4), junior Grace Fanelli (1-for-3, double) and Tanner. Roh, Watson and Kainrath each recorded walks, while one run scored via one of Carmel’s two errors.
Noblesville, which drew the first-round bye, is the lone sectional team remaining that has beaten the Shamrocks, 5-4 in 14 innings, on April 25. They also eliminated the Shamrocks in 2015-16, by a score of 9-2 in the semifinals after Westfield beat North Central 3-2 in the quarterfinals.
“We played (the Millers) 14 innings earlier in the season, and we lost. It was just a fantastic ball game. I would expect another fantastic ball game, again, on Wednesday night,” Revercomb said.
“They’re so talented up and down their lineup and their pitching is solid. Their catcher, Taylor Thompson, is one of the better catchers in Central Indiana. I think she’s thrown out about 45 percent of the runners that tried to steal on her. So fantastic game coming up Wednesday night.”
Another Shamrock win would match them with the 2014-15 team that lost in the sectional semifinal round with a record of 16-12. Last year, the Shamrocks lost to the Millers, 9-3, in the sectional quarterfinals with a record of 15-10.
“We played 14 innings with Noblesville, so it’s definitely going to be a lot, but I’m really excited because I did not play 14 innings to lose on Wednesday. I’m sorry, but it was a lot, and we just need to come out with fire. We need to come out hitting like we did tonight,” Tanner said. “We have a good chance. We’re just going to compete no matter what.”