Rankings hold steady; big matchups ahead
We have cleared the first big weekend of the high school softball season and the collection of powerhouse clashes resulted in a few changes to the Central Indiana power rankings.
1. Roncalli (5-0)
Last week: 1
The Royals have won big and after weathering a late push by Terre Haute South (escaped with a 5-4 win) they’ve won close, too. Now we’ll see them against a more formidable foe with a trip to Tri-West scheduled for Thursday.
Last year matched Keagan Rothrock vs. Audrey Lowry, the Bruins’ OU-bound ace. This year’s game will likely pit Lowry against Roncalli senior Avery Clark, who’s 4-0 with a 0.50 ERA and 27 strikeouts through her first 14 innings. Clark, who has allowed eight hits and issued only two walks, will be backed up by sophomore Elise Baker, who’s fanned 10 hitters and has a 2.42 ERA through 8.2 innings pitched.
One other note: Carley Keller is batting .611 with 11 hits, a homer, 10 runs and four RBIs.
2. Cathedral (7-0)
LW: 2
Cathedral is off to an expectedly strong start, out-scoring its first seven opponents, 83-19. It rallied to beat Harrison over the weekend (big game from Aubrie Wright) and has a couple more tests this week with Brownsburg (Wednesday) and Westfield (Saturday).
Anna Moore (.650, eight RBIs, 15 runs, four triples) and Maddie Liter (.389, 15 RBIs) headline a lineup that’s batting .454 with seven homers, seven triples and 10 doubles. Mary Hughes has swiped 10 bases and sophomore Sidney Feczko is 6-0 in the circle with a 1.87 ERA and 48 strikeouts.
3. Center Grove (5-3)
Riley Janda homered and drove in four runs to help the Trojans to a wild come-from-behind 7-5 win over Avon at the Horseshoe Classic in Pendleton. That win was preceded by a 10-run rout of Jennings County and an 8-2 loss to a very good Lake Central bunch (Hannah Haberstroh drove in the two runs vs. LC).
Of note: Riley Henson pitched three innings vs. Avon (longest outing of the season), allowing two runs on six hits with a couple strikeouts and a walk. Doubleheader against defending state champion Penn this weekend.
4. Mooresville (6-1)
LW: 5
The Pios committed a couple errors and suffered a tough loss to Penn at the Castle Invite, but bounced back with wins over Tecumseh, Fishers and Evansville North. Zoey Kugelman is batting .741 and boasts a 2.85 ERA with 19 strikeouts; Madison Poulson has six steals on seven attempts and Sofia Guy leads the team with four homers and 18 RBIs.
Conference games can be tricky, so be wary of this week's two-fer with Decatur Central, but Mooresville should be a one-loss team entering the Brownsburg-Franklin
stretch in a couple weeks.
5. Fishers (4-3)
Kate Murray did not pitch in Fishers’ loss to Mooresville and the Tigers’ other loss was to the aforementioned Kingsmen of Penn, who are still really, really good. Fishers bounced back with a come-from-behind blowout win over Tecumseh and a no-sweat 12-1 rout of Bedford North Lawrence, wherein Murray did not allow an earned run and struck out eight over six innings.
Hailey Trueblood and Brooke Clayton have both swiped four bases, while Brooke Johnson leads the team with 12 hits. Taylor Duplessis is batting .444 and finished a combined 4-for-8 with four RBIs and a homer vs. Tecumseh and BNL.
Intriguing matchup Tuesday against Noblesville, followed by an event this weekend that includes Class A No. 8 Lutheran.
6. Westfield (5-0)
LW: 6
The Rocks are back in action following a week off with three straight road games: Brownsburg, Greenfield-Central and Cathedral.
7. Tri-West (3-2)
LW: 10
I'll preface this with a reminder that it's early, but the Bruins have looked solid through the first leg of their schedule. The losses came against Fishers (a 1-0 pitchers duel between Audrey Lowry and FHS' Kate Murray) and Gibson Southern (Lowry did not pitch in the 15-1 loss), while last weekend's wins at the Castle Invite included 4A No. 2 Floyd Central, Daviess County (Ky.) and 4A No. 6 Castle — all high-quality opponents.
Lowry, the OU commit, has been expectedly excellent. The lineup, which graduated some key bats from last year's runner-up finish, has been buoyed by senior Emma Frye's strong start (6-for-15, three homers) and the early emergence of sophomore Addy Brower (6-for-12).
We should have a better gauge on where Tri-West stands over the next couple weeks with games against Roncalli (Thursday), Brownsburg (Friday), Plainfield (April 18) and Cascade (April 19).
8. Pendleton Heights (2-3)
LW: 7
The Arabians have taken their lumps as they figure out everyone’s positions and establish a batting order against a rather daunting opening stretch. They committed four errors in the opener vs. Westfield and squandered a 6-2 lead vs. Center Grove, before beating Avon for their first win of the season — despite leaving 12 runners on base (had the bases loaded with no outs on multiple occasions).
The hiccups were probably to be expected as this team sorts things out. But that lineup has potential to be really good (batting .343 as a team) and we’ve seen what pitcher Shelby Messer is capable of. With the county tournament, Anderson and Delta upcoming, I suspect Messer and the Arabians will have righted the ship and built some momentum by the Carmel Invite (April 19-20).