Jimtown falls in 3A sectional finals

LAKEVILLE — Lilly Gaugler and the Jimtown softball team didn’t blink.

But an upset against defending Class 3A state champion New Prairie wasn’t to be on Thursday night.

The Cougars’ Emma Luther crushed a long two-run homer in the bottom of the sixth inning to give New Prairie a dramatic 5-4 victory over the Jimmies in the title game of the Marian Sectional at Newton Park.

The Cougars, now 21-6, will play the winner of the Kankakee Valley Sectional in regional play next Tuesday. That sectional is scheduled to be completed on Saturday.

Gaugler, just a freshman, was starting just her eighth game of the season, after a broken wrist sidelined sophomore Layla Winrott during Wednesday’s semifinal win over Marian.

Winrott got her chance when Jimtown ace Kiyla Eberhart went went down with a mysterious injury to her feet.

“Lilly was great tonight,’’ Jimtown coach Brandy Eberhart said. “No pressure, you’re just going out there in the sectional championship game against the defending state champions. But she didn’t let it bother her.’’

Despite New Prairie All-State junior Ave Geyer striking out 18 batters in the game, the Jimmies led New Prairie 4-3 with one out in the sixth when Luther came to bat.

Two innings earlier, with runners on second and third and no outs, Cougar coach Derek Hicks had Luther attempt to bunt. But the senior popped the attempt up to first baseman Jessica Alvey, who doubled off Randi Robakowski at third for the double play.

But Luther more than made up for it in the sixth, hitting the ball way over the fence in dead center to give New Prairie the lead.

“Man that was clutch,’’ Hicks understated. “Emma really got all of it for sure.’’

With one out in the top of the seventh, Gaugler drew a walk. But as Skyler Pello struck out for the second out, Gaugler was thrown out trying to steal second to end the game.

“Jimtown deserved to win this game as much as we did,’’ Hicks admitted. “They have nothing to hang their heads about today ... they gave us all we could handle and I feel a little lucky to come out of here.’’

The Jimmies fought back after falling behind the Cougars – a team they hadn’t scored against since the 2021 season – 2-0 in the first.

Robakowski started the inning with a single and came all the way around on a single by Maddie Humes and an error in centerfield. Humes would score on another Jimtown error to make it 2-0.

After leaving the bases loaded in the second, New Prairie tacked one on in the third on a double by senior Makayla Willoughby, but a great relay throw from shortstop Kendal McPhee to catcher Abby Brown cut down Emily Mrozinski trying to scored from first.

“We left a lot of runs out there in the first few innings because we don’t know how to run the bases,’’ Hicks said. “We will definitely be practicing that this week.’’

When McPhee came up with one out in the fourth, nine of the 10 outs Geyer had recorded were strikeouts. But the talented junior put an end to that, lining a home run to left to cut the lead to 3-1.

“I think that helped us relax,’’ Brandy Eberhart said. “Everyone realized that we could put the ball in play and maybe make some things happen.

They did just that in the fifth, as Brooklyn Gillespie reached on a bunt single with one out. After a strike out, Pello go ahold of a Geyer pitch and deposited it over the fence in nearly the exact spot as McPhee’s.

Tie game.

McPhee was then in the middle of the rally that gave Jimtown the lead in the top of the sixth, walking to start the inning, stealing second and then scoring on a single by senior Alexa Alvey.

“There girls just don’t give up,’’ Brandy Eberhart said. “They’ve kept fighting all season and you saw that again tonight. I’m really proud of the way they came back.’’

But that lead, thanks to Luther’s blast, was short lived, as the defending champs have moved on.

The Jimmies, who finish the season at 19-9, will move down to Class 2A next season, while also moving to the new Indiana Northern State Conference.

Meanwhile, if New Prairie wins it’s regional game Tuesday, they’ll move up to 4A next spring.