Softball power rankings: Mishawaka dominating conference play
Dominant.
That's the appropriate adjective to describe the play of the Mishawaka High School softball team in Northern Lakes Conference play this season.
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Coach Brian Miller's Cavemen are well on their way to posting a second straight undefeated season in league action. Mishawaka went 22-7 overall and 14-0 in winning the NLC crown in 2023, the program's first conference title in 13 years. It was their first NLC championship since joining the league in 2020, after moving from the Northern Indiana Conference. Miller was the NLC Coach of the Year in 2023.
Mishawaka sat at 8-0 in NLC action going into a league game versus Goshen Monday night. The Cavemen have outscored their first eight conference foes 84-5 with four shutouts. The closest game was a 4-0 win over Northridge, which sits in second place in the NLC.
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The Cavemen dominated their league foes last week by downing Plymouth, Northridge and Warsaw by a combined count of 28-0.
Mishawaka beat Plymouth 10-0 as Lilly St. Clair fired a one-hitter in the circle. Holly Shine was 3-3 and Desiree Couve had two hits and two runs scored to lead the offense. The Cavemen blanked Northridge 4-0 April 30 in the completion of a suspended game. Junior Camilia Ramirez-Quijada pitched a one-hitter with 13 strikeouts, while Khloe Hershey had a two-run double. Mishawaka topped Warsaw 14-0 April 29 as St. Clair pitched another one-hitter. Couve had an inside the park home run and five RBI, while Hershey had two hits with a triple and Olivia Bultinck added a two-run double.
Senior St. Clair has once again been a huge force for the Cavemen. The talented performer has been an All-NLC selection each of the past two years. Mishawaka has also benefited greatly from the addition this year of Couve, a move in from Kentucky, and Ramirez-Quijada, who played at Marian in 2023.
Mishawaka hosted its own Cavemen Versus Cancer Classic over the weekend and the winning ways just continued. The Cavemen finished 4-0 in the annual two-day tournament at Baker Park. Mishawaka beat Class 3A No. 2 Western 3-2 in the title game Saturday evening to run its winning streak to 13 straight and move to 16-4 overall. The trio of pitchers Couve, St. Clair and Ramirez-Quijada each threw a complete game as the Cavemen won three games Saturday to earn the tourney title.
"I am incredibly proud of my kids," said Mishawaka coach Miller via text late Saturday night following the tourney. "Western is a great team. They were undefeated and ranked in Class 3A.
"Our defense has been outstanding recently. Lilly Hanback is the anchor for us at shortstop and has played amazing defensively. Freshman Kallahan Steinman has stepped in at second base and third base, especially since we lost Sophia Hoover for the season with an ACL injury on April 15."
The Cavemen beat Western in wild fashion Saturday night. Mishawaka scored the winning walk-off run in their final at bat on a dropped popout by the Western pitcher with two outs in the seventh inning. Leftfielder Brynn Lewinski was key in the title game win with five putouts, including a pair of amazing catches, for the champions.
Mishawaka, which will play Michigan City in a first-round contest in the Class 4A South Bend Adams Sectional in two weeks, has a loaded schedule on tap this week. The Cavemen play NLC foes Wawasee (Tuesday), Concord (Wednesday) and NorthWood (Friday), in addition to hosting rival Penn Thursday night.
Big pitching performances
No surprise here.
But there was another slew of premier pitching efforts again in the NIC last week.
Junior Angela McNellis of Adams fired a two-hitter with 18 strikeouts in a 3-1 league win over Clay.
Jessica Cleveland of Clay had a trio of sterling performances. The senior had a three-hitter with 10 strikeouts in the loss to Adams. She also had a five-inning no-hitter with 15 strikeouts in a 13-0 NIC win over Washington and then fired a four-hitter with 14 strikeouts Saturday in a 2-0 win over Argos.
There was also, as there is seemingly every week, the brilliance in the circle of Berkley Zache. The Saint Joseph junior superstar fired a two-hitter with 18 strikeouts in nine innings as the Huskies outlasted Riley 1-0. Zache, an Oklahoma commit who is one of the top-rated pitchers nationally in the Class of 2025, allowed one unearned run with 15 strikeouts in a 3-1 win at Logansport on Saturday.
Ava Geyer also continued to keep her New Prairie team in the hunt for the NIC crown. The Cougars moved to 7-1 in the NIC with wins over Jimtown (11-0) and Bremen (7-0). Junior Geyer, an Indiana State recruit who led her team to the Class 3A state title a year ago, allowed just four hits with 25 strikeouts in the two league wins.
Aubrey Zachary celebrated her Senior Night in style for Penn. The ace allowed just two hits and one run with 10 strikeouts in four innings of work in a 13-1 five-inning NIC win over Marian. Aubrey, the oldest daughter of Penn coach Beth Zachary, is an Indiana Purdue Fort Wayne commit and helped the Kingsmen win the Class 4A state title in 2023.
Marian's Kaitlin Pratt threw a perfect game in a 14-0 NIC win over Washington. The senior and Keiser University commit struck out 12 in the five-inning victory.
Sensational Seven
Records through Saturday games
▶ 1. Penn (16-6, 7-0 NIC): The Kingsmen, remained unbeaten in league play by topping Marian 13-1 and Bremen 10-5. Shannon Rudge homered, Ava Zachary had two hits and three RBI and Logan Rumble three hits in the win over Bremen. Ava Zachary had three RBI and Ashlynn Kronewitter had two hits and two RBI in the win over Marian. Penn, which was NIC runner-up to St. Joe in 2023, then lost a 7-2 final to non-conference foe Crown Point Friday night. Senior standout Abby Widmar had a home run and two RBI in the loss to Crown Point.
▶ 2. Saint Joseph (17-3, 7-1 NIC): The Huskies split a twinbill with Logansport Saturday, winning 3-1 and losing 6-5 in eight innings. St. Joe beat Riley 1-0 in nine innings on an RBI single by Kenadie Schrock and topped Jimtown 16-6 in NIC play last week. Payton Wulf had a huge game by going 4-for-4 with two home runs and six RBI versus Jimtown. Riley Zache and Bella Esquibel both homered and Camille Porter had three RBI.
▶ 3. New Prairie (15-3, 7-1 NIC): The Cougars stayed in the hunt for an NIC title with league wins over Bremen (7-0) and Jimtown (11-0). New Prairie, which plays at Penn on May 13 in a huge NIC clash, then beat Griffith 5-0 Friday and defeated Twin Lakes and Pioneer Saturday in pool play action in the Twin Lakes Tournament before losing to Class 2A No. 2 Cascade in the semifinals of the tourney.
▶ 4. Mishawaka (16-4, 8-0): The Cavemen are arguably the hottest team in the area right now. Mishawaka went 4-0 in its own Cavemen Versus Cancer Classic Friday and Saturday to stretch its winning streak to 13 in a row.
▶ 5. Jimtown (12-6, 5-3 NIC): Jimtown opened last week with NIC losses to powers St. Joe (16-6) and New Prairie (11-0). The Jimmies bounced back with non-conference wins over Tippecanoe Valley (9-8) Thursday and Westview (11-5 and 15-6) on Friday.
▶ 6. South Central (17-2, 5-1 PCC): The Satellites lost 5-0 at Hebron for their first league setback. South Central then topped Marian 11-1 and 18-0 on Saturday.
▶ 7. Riley (11-8, 5-2 NIC): The Wildcats picked up an NIC win over John Glenn (12-2) but lost a tough conference final to St. Joe 1-0 in nine innings and also lost to non-conference foe Peru 10-0. Sophomore Elliana Gonzales turned in an outstanding pitching effort in the loss to St. Joe.
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Mishawaka softball is rolling, and is possibly hottest team in area
