Hamilton Heights set to face off against Beech Grove for regional
By RICHIE HALL
INDIANAPOLIS – The Hamilton Heights softball team successfully defended its Class 3A Sectional 27 championship Thursday.
The Huskies traveled to host Bishop Chatard and beat a tough Trojans squad 7-5. Chatard had a 4-1 lead on Heights midway through the fourth inning, but the Huskies exploded for six runs in the bottom of the fourth and held the lead from there.
Playing as the home team, the Huskies got their first run in the bottom of the third inning. Addie Doak hit a sacrifice bunt to score Isabel Morrow. The Trojans then put up four runs in the top of the fourth, including a three-run center field hit from Meg Jennings.
“You can see the progress they made this year,” said Heights coach Ken Olovich. “We’ve played them four times now in two years. It’s hard to beat a well-coached team that many years in a row. They’ve improved so much, their pitching is healthy. They put some pressure on our defense and hats off to them. They played a great game.”
Heights got its offense going in the fourth inning. Lily Roush reached second base on error, moved to third base on a passed ball, then scored when Kassidy Schakel hit a sacrifice fly. The Huskies loaded the bases, then Hailey Hall and Alexia Nickerson got home when Doak reached on error, tying the game at 4-4.
Lily Cash made the go ahead hit, sending a single into right field to bring in Morgan Ottinger and put Heights up 5-4. Hannah Dent brought Doak home with a center field hit, then Cash scored on a passed ball. With that, the Huskies led 7-4. Cash went 3-for-4 at the plate.
Olovich said that the Huskies’ comeback right after the Trojans scored their runs is a “big difference” compared to where Heights was in the past.
“We believe that we can score anytime against anyone,” said Olovich. “Two, three years ago, we’d get down and we’d wonder if we had enough offense to come back. We have an offense. I could bat 15 girls and I’m only allowed to bat nine. I have lots of hitting on this team, so we’re never out of the ballgame.”
The Trojans scored a run in the fifth inning, but that would be all. Roush struck out the side in the sixth inning, and after a couple runners got on base in the seventh inning, caught a pop out for the first out, induced a fly out to Dent in right field for the second out, then notched her 11th strikeout to finish the game.
Roush said that in the dugout, the team said “’We’re going to keep going, we’re going to keep pushing. And we did, and we ended up winning, and I just had my teammates back the whole time and everyone had each other’s back.”
Roush retired the first nine batters she faced, including another striking out of the side in the second inning.
This marks the second time Heights has defended a sectional title: The Huskies also went back-to-back in 2015 and 2016. Heights won its first sectional in 1986, so the program now has five sectional championships in total.
The Huskies are 21-7, extending their record for season wins. Heights will play in Regional 14 Tuesday, traveling to Beech Grove to play for that championship. The Hornets won Sectional 28 Wednesday with a 3-2 victory over Speedway in the title game.