SOFTBALL: No. 2 Western fights off WL to win 2nd straight sectional title

May 24—MONTICELLO — As Western's softball players raced to the infield to celebrate their sectional title, the scoreboard showed the final score: Western 9, West Lafayette 4.

Based on that final score alone, Western looked like it had won comfortably. The emotion told a more accurate story. The path to victory on Thursday was anything but comfortable.

"It's very hard to play a team and beat a team three times," Western slugger Chloe Linn said. "It was intense. Everybody knew that it was going to be a big game."

Western captured its second straight Class 3A Twin Lakes Sectional by fighting off repeated challenges from West Lafayette. The two regular season games between the Hoosier Conference rivals had both been difficult, with Western winning one 5-4 and the other 3-0.

On Thursday, No. 2-ranked Western went ahead 1-0 and 5-0 before West Side's offense came alive with two runs in the top of the fourth and two more in the fifth to trim the lead to 5-4 with two more frames to play.

As West Lafayette rallied, the momentum shift was evident in Western's dugout.

"It gets more intense, the dugout energy kind of goes down a little bit," Linn said. "But we picked it back up as it went on. It was very intense. It was a very intense game."

The Panthers held their lead throughout and rose to the occasion in the bottom of the sixth inning, plating four runs to put the pressure back on the Red Devils.

Panther No. 9 hitter Rylynn Gibbs started Western's decisive rally with marathon at-bat that ended with a one-out walk after she fouled off several pitches on a full count. Kylie Miller followed with a single and, after another out, Brynley Erb smacked a two-run double. The momentum had turned again, and Western did more damage with the next batter.

With Erb on second, cleanup hitter Linn stepped to the plate and bombed a home run deep, past the wall in left center for a 9-4 Panther lead.

"I tell you what, I think Rylynn Gibbs set the mindset with that at-bat," Western coach Bart Miller said. "She got to a 3-2 count and fouled off probably five or six balls. Just kept battling and battling and won the at-bat with a walk. That set the ball rolling for me. Kylie Miler comes up, gets two strikes, she singled there. And then Brynley Erb coming up with the big hit there to score both of them, and then what can you say about Chloe Linn to come through with the big home run?"

The Panther pitching and defense responded to West Side's rally as well. After the Red Devils trimmed the lead to a single run in the fifth inning, Western freshman pitcher Lucy George got a ground out to end the fifth and didn't allow another runner. She put down the Red Devils 1-2-3 in the sixth and seventh. When left fielder Sienna Stone caught the last out, it was time for the Panthers to celebrate.

George threw all seven innings for the win with seven hits, no walks, two earned runs and seven strikeouts.

Bart Miller said the adjustments the Panthers made both at the plate and in the circle allowed Western to keep the lead.

"Lucy George did a fantastic job in the circle. We had to make minor adjustments on where we were calling pitches and where the location was," Bart Miller said of a fifth-inning infield meeting in response to West Lafayette's rally. "She was perfect with those adjustments.

"In the box, we adjusted early, made a slight adjustment in the box with our hands and you saw the results. That's what's great about this group. They'll make the adjustments they need to make and even if they struggle with the adjustment, they'll still keep with it. There in the bottom of the sixth, we saw the fruition of those adjustments."

Western went up 1-0 with a run in the first inning. Kylie Miller drew a leadoff walk, moved to second on Chloe Hunt's single, took third on Erb's groundout, and then scored on Linn's hard-hit ball to third base that WL's defense knocked down but fumbled before being able to throw home.

The Panthers threatened to run away with the game with a four-run third inning. Hunt started the rally with a double and was erased at third base on Erb's fielder's choice. The rally continued as Linn had an RBI single to score Erb, Stone hit an RBI double, and Lexi Dollens smashed a homer to left for a 5-0 lead.

"Earlier in the game, Lexi Dollens, her home run really propelled us, gave us that confidence to go through the game," Bart Miller said. "Give West Lafayette credit though, they battled, they came back, they got it to within one run, but our girls never hung their heads. They felt confident and they executed like they needed to."

West Lafayette pitcher Izzy Ascarelli held Western silent the next two innings, giving the Red Devils time to work back into the game.

"Their pitching is excellent," Bart Miller said. "Izzy did a fantastic job on us. We eventually got around to making some adjustments on that. They're hard to get out, they do not beat themselves."

Hunt finished 3 for 4 and despite not collecting a run or RBI, was involved in Western's first two runs. Linn did not record an out in four plate appearances. She was 2 for 3 with a walk and reached on an error as Western scored the opening run. Kylie Miller singled and walked. And Gibbs drew two walks.

"It's a fantastic group of girls," Bart Miller said of the Panthers. "What they've done this year and how hard they've worked, they deserve this. They deserve all the credit. The most gratifying thing is to see the smiles on their faces as we got that third out."

With another sectional victory, Western (25-2) will host a regional on Tuesday. The Panthers await the winner of the Griffith Sectional. No. 12 Boone Grove and No. 13 Hanover Central play for the title of that sectional today. West Lafayette finished 16-9.

"Oh, it's so good," said Linn, a senior, of winning another sectional. "I'm just glad my season isn't over."