Starfires’ season ends

LAKEVILLE — One big hit put the Starfires in an early hole.
But it was their inability to execute the little ones, and Madison-Grant’s efficiency in doing so, that ended their season.
South Adams High School’s softball team didn’t get bunts down early and then struggled to field them off the bats of the Argylls as its record-breaking season came to an end with a 9-0 loss Saturday in the Class 2A semi-state semifinal at Newton Park.
“We didn’t play very good defense. That was the bottom line,” said SAHS coach Jessie O’Dell. “We prepared well. We spent a lot of time on bunt defense (Friday) in practice, and the day before that. They bunted well on us.
“The thing that bothered me the most is I just wanted them to be able to do their best, play their best, and wherever the cards fell, they fell,” he added. “But we didn’t do that today.”
Madison-Grant (22-7) went on to lose 3-0 to eighth-ranked Boone Grove (26-2) in Saturday evening’s championship game. Boone Grove will play No. 2 Mater Dei (26-5) for the state title at 1:30 p.m. Saturday at Ben Davis.
The big hit against South Adams came in the second inning, after Madison-Grant’s Katie Ailes survived a foul ball that could have been caught, then smacked a single to left field and stole second base. Two batters later, No. 7 hitter Katelyn Shouse launched a pitch to center field for a two-run home run and a 2-0 lead.
But the Starfires (23-7) had chances to get on the board before and after the big hit.
Abby Myers had led off the top of the second inning with a single to left field, but the Starfires were unable to get bunts down and left her stranded.
In the fourth inning, Isabella Ramirez reached base with a leadoff single to center field. The next two batters both popped up bunts for outs, and Ramirez was thrown out trying to steal second base in an effort to get herself into scoring position.
“When we didn’t get those bunts down to get ourselves a 2-1 game … then it kind of avalanched on us,” said O’Dell, noting that he felt one key hit could have created a breakthrough. “I thought our kids battled for a while pretty well, but then I saw the body language kind of drop. I felt like they felt defeated.”

That feeling started in the fifth inning, when Madison-Grant got its first two batters on base on an error and a bunt single. Another error brought in a run, and two more crossed the plate on a double by Alie Carson and a sacrifice fly from Ailes.
It compounded in the sixth, when Tori Raugh led off with a single to right-center field for the Starfires but was thrown out trying to stretch the hit into a double.
SAHS then committed three consecutive errors to open the bottom of the frame. Mckayla Lewis followed with her second bunt single in as many at bats — two runners came around to score — and Maddie Evans added a sacrifice fly. Harris then smacked a double to left field to push the score to the 9-0 final margin.
Meanwhile, Evans allowed just three hits while striking out eight batters and walking none. She did not allow a Starfire to reach second base.
“She gave us almost three free innings — eight strikeouts,” said Madison-Grant coach Danny Justus. “She got ahead, stayed ahead. She threw a minimal amount of pitches. … Her pitch count was way down, which means she stayed on the plate.”
The loss brought an end to the best season in the history of the Starfires, who won their school’s first regional championship in any girls sport with a 14-1 drubbing of Eastside. Pitcher Katelin Augsburger, who gave up just two earned runs against Madison-Grant, and SAHS as a team set records for wins with 18 and 23 respectively.
“Katelin Augsburger came in and did a great job for us. … We played defense. We got some timely hitting in some big situations,” said O’Dell, whose team loses just two players — center fielder Keirstyn Grimm and catcher Madison Morgan — to graduation. “We’ve had some comeback wins. We had some walk-off wins. There’s a lot of things that we did very well.
“It was a great season. I can’t ask more from this group of kids.”