By RICHARD TORRES
For The Reporter
NOBLESVILLE – A third straight victory was within their grasp Thursday, but on a night where no lead was safe, the host Class 4A Noblesville Millers came up just short.
Up 7-0 after two innings, ahead 9-4 after four frames and resilient enough to tie the game 11-all behind a two-run home run by Mack Harvey in the bottom of the sixth, the Millers ran out of opportunities, falling 13-11 in seven innings to 4A No. 8 Pendleton Heights.
“It’s definitely a little frustrating knowing we were up that much early, but we need to work better with the umpire’s count and throw a little better pitching, but other than that, we were there the whole time,” Noblesville senior catcher Taylor Thompson said. “Battling the whole time.”
The Millers (7-7) were in control early on, striking first with a two-run bottom of the first, as an RBI double by Thompson (2-for-3, three RBI) plated one run and an RBI single by Addi Emmerson made it 2-0.
A three-run home run by Gabby Fowler (1-for-3) increased the lead to 6-0 following an RBI double by Reis Sjoholm (2-for-5) in the bottom of the second. Thompson crushed a solo home run with two outs in the inning that hit the scoreboard in left-center field before the Arabians (13-3) could even respond.
The early-going onslaught chased PH starting pitcher Eliza Findlay after 1.1 innings, but much like the Arabians, the senior hurler was finished.
Findlay re-entered later as she navigated through a potential loss to a blown save situation and eventually earned the win by completing the final three innings.
The Millers didn’t make it easy on Findlay, however, peppering the right-hander for 10 of their 13 hits during her 4.1 total innings, plating eight earned runs while drawing two walks and striking out twice.
Harvey’s game-tying home run in the bottom of the sixth was the last blow that landed against Findlay before the Millers went three-up, three-down in the bottom of the seventh.
“We had power hitting. We did, and they’re a good hitting team,” Millers head coach Deke Bullard said. “They’re 13-3, and we’re 7-7. They’re a good team, and we knew coming in it was going to be a battle. We knew that we would have to play some good softball. We did until they took advantage of the walks.”
The Arabians drew 12 walks, had one batter hit and loaded the bases 10 times overall through the third, fourth and fifth innings.
In the third, the Millers and starter Lulu Van Beek allowed three runs – one with the bases loaded.
In the fourth with Claire Cullen in the circle to relieve Van Beek, the Arabians loaded the bases three times, but they could only scratch one run across the plate.
“It was a very tight zone. He was consistent both ways. He was tight for them, too, and that affects you, but you can’t have (12 walks and a hit batter) in a game and expect to come out on the right side of that. That’s the hard part,” Bullard said.
“They had a couple of innings with bases loaded and one or no outs, and we got out of those by only giving up one. That, in my opinion, is fortunate that we got out of those with that little damage, but it eventually catches you and it caught us.”
The Arabians capitalized in the top of the fifth, sending 11 hitters to the plate and loading the bases six times. PH worked 11 full counts in the game, including five in the fifth.
An RBI walk by Katelin Goodwin (2-for-4, three RBI) with the bases loaded brought PH within one run, 9-8, before Sydney Clark (2-for-4, four RBI) hit a three-run double to clear the bases and put the Arabians up 11-9.
Van Beek re-entered in the top of the fifth, but the Arabians utilized the zone despite three strikeouts for the junior pitcher, who was charged with five earned runs and nine runs surrendered on eight hits. Cullen went 1.1 innings with five walks issued.
“I think, we could have done a better job of adjusting to the zone. I don’t know if we did that? But again, the umpire didn’t cost us the game. You still have to make plays, and tonight, they had the ball drop a few more times than we did,” Bullard said.
The Millers never gave up, building a 9-4 lead with a two-run bottom of the fourth sparked by an error that scored one run and a sacrifice fly by Thompson with one out.
“Everyone was really relaxed and having fun, then they started getting more and everyone was stressing out a little,” Thompson said. “We finally started to settle down a little bit more, but we definitely got a little stressed as they came back.”
Bella Schatko went 2-for-4. Harvey finished 2-for-3 with three RBI, while Emmerson was 2-for-4.
“We don’t give up. We keep working hard. We built this schedule to play these games. I said before the game, this should be a 1-0 or 2-0 game. It was still a 1- or 2-0 game, but it was 13-11, so just a few more ones and zeros, but overall, it was still a 1-0 game,” Bullard said.
The Arabians won their ninth straight game with an RBI single by Goodwin in the top of the seventh and an RBI hit by pinch-hitter Maddy Petty.
“They just had a couple more plays go their way versus ours. They’re a good team,” Bullard said. “You get better from it. That’s why we play the schedule we do, so by the time sectional rolls around, we’ve had a lot of stuff that we’ve dealt with and worked through.”