By RICHARD TORRES
For The Reporter
NOBLESVILLE – Monday night wasn’t the first time Sayla Stock was bestowed with Hamilton Southeastern’s majestic “celly” crown this softball season, but it was no doubt her favorite.
Given the royal treatment by her teammates following her heroics during the Class 4A Sectional 8 quarterfinals at Noblesville’s Miller Park, Stock proudly wore her prize with some mild disbelief.
A reserve for No. 13 HSE’s opening-round sectional game against rival 16th-ranked Fishers, Stock didn’t get an at-bat until the bottom of the sixth inning with her team trailing 3-2, carrying one out and needing a big hit with two runners on base.
Facing a full count, the junior delivered what would be the knockout blow – a three-run bomb that cleared the left-field fence en route to a 6-3 victory, and the first Royals’ win over the Tigers since 2017-18.
Stock’s home run – her fifth this season – was exactly what the Royals needed to snap their five-game losing streak to their Mudsock rivals and ended the Tigers’ hopes at their first sectional title run in four years (2019).
“Something that’s great about this team is even though we have great hitters in our starting nine, we have girls that are ready to come up at-bat sitting on the bench,” HSE coach Emily Kitchen said. “The second we call them up, they do their job.”
Stock proved she might be due for a raise, following up junior Jenna Chase’s lead-off solo home run in the bottom of the sixth with a pinch-hit blast that advanced the Royals (19-7) into Wednesday night’s semifinal round against Zionsville (8-14-1) at 6 p.m.
“I had full faith that this one was going to do something big, and she showed up,” Kitchen said. “It just takes one to get our girls going and then they just follow up. I think they’re a prime example of working as a team.”
After taking a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first off an RBI single by senior Morgan Hicks (1-for-4), the Royals’ offense fell silent as Fishers’ ace Kate Murray retired seven straight through three frames.
Murray only allowed three of her six hits through five innings and finished with 13 strikeouts overall, and the Tigers leaned on junior Brooke Johnson’s bat, which produced two clutch hits – a two-run home run in the top of the fourth and a solo shot in the sixth.
However, a 3-1 lead wasn’t enough. Neither was 3-2.
“It’s a rival game in general, so there’s always that natural feel there, but I think these girls were hungry and it’s not just because we’re playing Fishers. We’ve worked really hard this season, and the way that they are with one another they’re ready to take as much as they can on,” Kitchen said.
Stock, who is hitting .381 this season, was ready to do what she could to end the drought against the Hoosier Crossroads Conference champion Tigers (15-8-1).
“I was like, ‘Alright, I’m going in to pinch hit for Steph (Penny),’ and so I just went up there and did what I know I can do,” Stock said. “It was full count, so I was like, ‘Just try to put the ball into play, and I don’t know. It just went over.”
Madi Yankauskas drew her second walk of the game to set up the rally’s second wave after Chase (1-for-4) powered a home run over the center-field wall in the sixth to make it 3-2.
A strikeout by Murray subdued the Royals momentarily until Alex Kiemeyer worked the fourth of HSE’s five walks drawn.
Then, Kitchen made her power move.
“Sayla has been in some clutch moments before, and she’s one that cheers loud in the dugout like all the other girls, but she’s one that we can say, ‘Hey, you’re going to go hit in this position, even if it’s two batters away,’ she’s like, ‘Got it.’ She’s made clutch moves before, so she’s trustworthy,” Kitchen said.
Not wanting to risk loading the bases with Lani Wyrick (2-for-4) on deck, the Tigers elected to attack the strike zone as Stock and Murray stood deadlocked.
It was a gamble that backfired for the Tigers and proved tide-turning for the Royals.
“I threw a pitch that I knew she was going to be able to hit. I was hoping she wouldn’t hit it like that, but yeah, we knew we had to throw one for a strike and she took advantage of it,” Fishers coach Daren James said. “I just talked to (Murray) and told her, I wish I could tell you this won’t happen again, but if you pitch long enough, it will. It’s just part of the game and the way it goes sometimes.”
The Royals added a fifth run in the sixth off an error, scoring Wyrick, who reached on an infield single after Stock was awarded her crown in the Royals’ dugout.
Murray induced a pop out and struck out Chase to end the inning with the Royals batting around, but HSE ace Grace Swedarsky slammed the door in the top of the seventh.
Swedarsky struck out two and got a game-ending groundout to win what was initially a pitcher’s duel until the Royals’ final at-bats. The freshman right-hander earned the win, pitching seven complete innings with two hits allowed, one walk and 14 strikeouts against a lineup that carried eight hitters batting .304 or better.
“That’s something about Grace that’s super honorable. It’s that she is fully focused all of the time, dialed in, always ready to go. Really there hasn’t been much this season that we’ve seen shake her,” Kitchen said. “She knows what her job is, and she goes and does her best.”
The Royals lost to Fishers, 1-0, during the regular season and hadn’t beaten their archrival since a 10-0 victory on April 13, 2018.
“I don’t know if it was so much their approach as it was that we just started missing spots a little bit. Gave up a couple of walks and then one thing led to another, and it kind of spiraled from there when you give them free bases,” James said.
“This makes it a tough pill to swallow. This is the first time these seniors have ever lost to HSE, so that makes it even more difficult to go out that way.”
The Royals beat Zionsville, 10-0, on April 11 this season, and if they advance to the title game on Thursday at 6 p.m. they will be chasing their first sectional title since 2017.
Defending champion Noblesville (14-10-1) will play Westfield (15-13) in the other semifinal on Wednesday at 8 p.m. Noblesville is aiming for a three-peat after claiming the title in 2021 and 2022.
“We’re excited. We’re ready for whatever comes this way. Our girls are putting in the work, so we couldn’t be more excited about tonight’s win and we’re looking forward to Wednesday,” Kitchen said.
Stock is ready anytime she’s needed.
“I was like, we have a chance to claw back into this game and we did,” Stock said. “I knew she didn’t want to walk me, and it was just a little too far over the plate, I guess. We thought we could do it. We knew we could. We’re very excited that we did. We knew we could do it.”