Indiana: Hamilton Southeastern softball powers past Noblesville
By Anthony Mock
May 31, 2010, 12:00am
Amanda Banitt delivers late heroics for Royals
Hamilton Southeastern (Fishers), the No. 9 team in the 4A division, topped No. 8 Noblesville 5-3 at Westfield for the program's 11th sectional crown.
Third baseman Amanda Banitt led the Royals, going 3-for-4 and driving in the team’s final three runs.
Taylor Rager got Hamilton Southeastern on board with a solo home run in the first inning and hit two more doubles in the game.
Noblesville managed two runs on four singles in the third inning for a brief lead and retied the score at 3-3 in the fifth inning when Brittany Burkhalter scored on a wild pitch, but Banitt’s two-run single in the top of the seventh was too much for the Millers to overcome.
Hamilton Southeastern (23-4) will play Harrison (Evansville) on Tuesday. Harrison squeaked by McCutcheon (Lafayette) 4-3 in nine innings then beat Kokomo 2-0 for their sectional title.
Sectional Wrap-Up
Mel Keyler hit a home run and had three RBI for Roncalli (Indianapolis) as the Rebels claimed their 3A sectional crown with a 7-1 win over Beech Grove (Beech Grove).
Host Scecina Memorial (Indianapolis) scored twice in the fifth inning to claim a 3-1 win over Indian Creek (Trafalgar) for their 1A sectional title.
Southport (Indianapolis) gave defending 4A champion and host Center Grove (Greenwood) all it could handle on Saturday, but the Trojans still managed to come out on top, outlasting the Cardinals 1-0 in eight innings.
Center Grove’s opponent will be Decatur Central (Indianapolis), who shocked No. 4 Ben Davis (Indianapolis) with a 2-1 win in their Pike sectional final. Ben Davis had knocked-off defending sectional champion Avon in the previous round, 4-1.
Cathedral’s Karley Olsen hit a bases-loaded triple to lead the Irish to a 4-2 victory over North Central in their Lawrence Central sectional final.
Girls Tennis: Carmel takes tough semi-state crown
Defending champion No.2 Carmel enters the eight-team state tournament having ran through the toughest schedule of any of the remaining teams.
The Greyhounds had already topped the first and fourth-ranked teams in the state, then preceded to dispatch No. 3 Park Tudor 3-2 in semi-state.
Courtney Wild beat Lindsey Thygesen in the No. 1 singles match, 6-2, 6-3, then the undefeated No. 1 doubles team of Susie Chen and Sarah Rodefeld earned a hard-fought 7-5, 6-4 victory. Carmel’s No. 2 doubles team of Olivia Trancik and Hayley Wild earned the Greyhounds’ third point with a 6-4, 6-1 win.
Carmel still has at least two more ranked team, No. 10 Columbus North and either No. 5 Terre Haute South or No, 6 Highland, and possibly a third in either No. 8 Center Grove, No. 12 South Bend St. Joseph’s, or No. 18 Zionsville waiting in the championship match.
Boys Volleyball: Cathedral regains championship form
After losing to Center Grove in the state finals last season, the Cathedral boys volleyball team regained its title by topping Lawrence North in four games.
The Irish won 25-18, 23-25, 25-13, 25-21, marking the eighth time they have come out on top of the state. Cathedral finished the year 37-3, defeating all Indiana competition in the process.
Cathedral middle hitter Kevin Owens, who will play at Ball State next year, led the Irish with 17 kills and three blocks. Lucas Behringer had 14 kills and 11 digs for Cathedral, while Patrick Laskowski tallied 27 assists. Brian Readnour and Doug Austrom led Lawrence North with 12 and 11 kills, respectively.
Girls Basketball
Ben Davis star Bria Goss, who will be a senior in the fall, committed to play for Kentucky after graduation. Goss averaged 15.9 points per game, 7.5 rebounds, and 4.2 assists as a junior.
Katie Brewer, an incoming 6-2 junior forward at Roncalli, committed to play at Butler.
Football
North Central defensive end/long snapper Andrew East committed to play at Vanderbilt next season. East had 64 tackles on the year.
