Lady 'Cats Repeat As Regional ChampsSOUTH WHITLEY – At the time, Madison Smith's two-run homer gave the Whitko Lady Wildcats a 3-0 lead over Western Boone.
It turned out to be the difference in Tuesday's Class 2A regional final, as third-ranked Whitko beat the No. 17 Stars 3-2 en route to a second straight softball regional championship.
"I hit it, and I wasn't sure if it was going over," Smith, a freshman batting in the No. 9 spot, said of her fifth-inning blast. "It hit the top of the fence and bounced over. My heart stopped.
"This is just amazing. I really don't have any words. This is just so amazing."
With Tuesday's win, which also included a pitching gem by junior Ellie Snep, Whitko improved to 21-7 and advanced to Saturday's LaVille Semistate.
Whitko will play No. 5 Tipton (19-4) at 1 p.m. at Newton Park in Lakeville.
Top-ranked Bremen and Andrean will square off at 11 a.m. in the first semifinal.
Winners will meet in the championship game at 7 p.m. with a berth in the state finals on the line.
"We know what to expect now," Whitko coach Michele Garr said of advancing to the semistate for the second year in a row and for just the second time in program history. "It's not this big scary thing now that we're going to semistate. We were there last year, and we can grow from there."
In getting back to the semistate round of the state tournament, the Lady Wildcats had to overcome four errors in the field, including two in the seventh inning.
After cutting the deficit to 3-1 in the sixth inning, Western Boone benefitted from the seventh-inning errors, trimming Whitko’s advantage even more.
With one out, the Stars’ Victoria Grimes was safe at first after a throwing error. She later scored when a flyball by Molly Crawford was dropped in centerfield, a flyball that would have been the final out of the game.
Whitko got out of the situation and celebrated their championship when Anna Jones put the ball in play and Crawford ran into a force out at second base.
"I’m not gonna lie, my stomach was in knots there for a minute," said Garr. “But, I’ve always had all the faith in the world in these kids that when it comes down to it they’ll pull it out. They wanted it, and they gutted it out tonight. I’m so proud of them.”
Western Boone got just three hits off Snep, who struck out six and only walked two in seven innings in the circle.
The Stars, who ended their season with a 21-10 record, got a double from Alayna Raby and singles from Hillary Reed and Briley Burns.
Reed, Western Boone’s No. 2 hitter, singled off Snep in the first inning, and then Snep didn’t give up another hit until Raby’s one-out double in the sixth.
“She didn’t give up a lot of hits, which was awesome because we really didn’t know a whole lot about them,” said Garr.
Lefty Hannah Redlin was charged with the pitching loss for the Stars, who rode in a bus 250 miles round trip.
Redlin gave up five hits and three runs in 4-2/3 innings of work.
Heather Clark gave up two hits in relief.
Along with Smith’s home run, Whitko got two singles each from Augusta Garr and Reannon Hopkins, and one single each from Anna Ousley and Shianna Bradley.
“Right now we’re telling everyone to smile and enjoy it,” Snep said when asked about a return trip to the semistate. “When Saturday comes, no matter what happens, we’re there. It’s a great experience and we’re gonna have fun with it.”
