Softball wrap: All 'finally clicking' for Noblesville ace; Cathedral bounces back, more

INDIANAPOLIS — Lotta rain outs this week. But the skies cleared (kinda) and a number of games were played. Here's what we learned in Central Indiana softball from the past week.

It's 'all finally clicking' for Noblesville's Claire Cullen

Talk with Claire Cullen’s coaches and teammates, and they’ll tell you the Noblesville senior is pitching with newfound confidence, a particular swagger that’s alluded her in years past. It’s partially the byproduct of team chemistry, infielder Gabby Fowler said, a mutual trust between the Millers’ hurler and her teammates.

“Claire can believe in us (to make plays) behind her,” she continued. “The relationship between everybody is so great.”

It’s all resulted in a tremendous start for both Cullen and the red-hot Millers, who moved to 5-1 last week with wins over Fishers and Lawrence North. Cullen tossed a complete game vs. the Tigers, allowing just one run on four hits with eight strikeouts, then pitched five innings in relief Friday, allowing three runs on four hits with a walk and eight strikeouts.

The righty has a 3.00 ERA, 27 strikeouts and 17 walks through her first five appearances (21 innings), already a significant improvement from last season when she scored a 7.99 ERA and walked more batters (48) than she struck out (44).

“It’s senior year, so in my head, I’m just like, we’re going to go out there, we’re going to have fun (and) we’re going to take risks,” Cullen said. “It’s all finally clicking for me.”

Cullen’s potential has long been recognized within the program, but unlocking it has been a process. She was initially convinced her struggles were a physical thing. “Oh, I need to keep getting in the reps,” she told herself. But as her post-game pitching sessions continued going smoothly, she began shifting focus. "It was a mental thing," Cullen said. "So that's what I focused on during the offseason, and it's really paying off."

The most helpful exercise? Journaling, an outlet for Cullen to express her feelings on the past three seasons and expel whatever negative energy lingered.

“That’s in the past,” she said. “This season is completely new. Blank slate, new player.”

Lawrence North aims to recover following rocky week

It was a rough week for the Wildcats (2-4), whose loss to Noblesville was preceded by an eight-inning loss to Carmel wherein they stranded 13 runners on base and followed by a 12-5 setback vs. Living Water Homeschool, wherein they committed five errors and surrendered seven runs in the sixth, and a 10-5 loss to Bedford North Lawrence.

Rachel Peck and Sydney Moss have been solid in the circle, but the Wildcats are missing a significant piece to their lineup with Northwestern commit Kate Dowden on the mend, and while Ella Hogan, Anna Mauck, Sydney Moss and Ginger Strelow are all really good, they're missing that additional pop Dowden brings.

That said, there were some bright spots at the plate this week. Victoria Guyse delivered a go-ahead three-run homer in the sixth vs. Carmel; Mauck and Hogan both went 2-for-4 (Hogan with a triple and four runs scored) against Noblesville, with Gabby Peck driving in six runs.

Things won’t be getting much easier for LN with Fishers (Monday), Hamilton Southeastern (Thursday) and Cathedral (April 22) lined up.

Cathedral bounces back from surprising setback

The Irish came out flat Friday and found themselves on the wrong end of a 3-2 final vs. Class 3A Danville. A very high-quality win for the youthful Warriors, who are 4-0 in the series since 2021, and a pretty surprising loss for Cathedral, which was 7-0 at the time.

"We were kind of flat-footed. We started out in warm-ups not our best and it really carried into the game," senior Purdue commit Anna Moore said. "We'd been having so much success, it was bound to happen sooner or later."

The change in energy was noticeable immediately Saturday morning, Moore continued, with everyone "dialed in" ahead of their game against Westfield. "We never wanted to feel like that ever again."

What ensued was a wildly entertaining tussle. The Irish rallied from a 3-0 first-inning deficit with four runs between the second and third; Westfield reclaimed the lead in the fifth, then Aubrie Wright hit a game-tying homer in the fifth and Angela Valentine hit the go-ahead blast in the fifth, sending Cathedral to an 8-6 win.

"We don't give up," Moore said. "When we're down, we always battle back."

"Our energy is amazing," Valentine added.

A couple quick thoughts:

>> The defense delivered some massive plays, specifically in the second inning. Moore cleanly fielded a sharply hit grounder to short and made the throw to beat the runner by a few steps (it was really impressive — even she seemed surprised she pulled it off), then Valentine ended the game, snagging a line drive at third and throwing across the diamond to double off Chloe Tanner.

>> The Irish have some solid wins — Silver Creek (8-4) and West Lafayette Harrison (5-1) — but we'll get a much better gauge on where they're at this weekend during the Carmel Invite: Friday vs. Castle and Saturday vs. Noblesville and Tecumseh.

"I think it comes at a good time for us," Moore said. "We're really excited for the good competition."

Fielding flaws doom Westfield

There's no shame in losing to a team like Cathedral. The Shamrocks led 3-0 after an inning, but defensive missteps — both actual errors (2) and mental mistakes that don't show up in a box score, like throwing home on a squeeze bunt instead of getting the out at first — dissipated the lead.

"We had a lot of missed opportunities at the beginning," junior catcher Ava Kainrath said. "I mean, we started strong on offense, but we should have backed it up with defense. But our energy was good for the situation."

Tanner, who allowed four earned runs (six total) on six hits over 4.1 innings, echoed Kainrath's analysis of the team's energy, adding: "There are little things we need to fix. Obviously there are things I could have done better, we all did, and I think we're going to really take away from that, work on it for future games and not let it happen again."

The Irish deserve credit for causing some of Westfield's fielding missteps — they bunted at least six times over the first three innings with basically every attempt sticking the landing in no-man's land between home plate and the pitching circle.

"Their balls were dying, but Ava did a great job coming out and getting them," Tanner said.

Asked if the stuck landings were turf-related, Tanner was unsure. "I've never seen anything like that, I'll be honest."

"But props to them, though. Good for them," Kainrath added.

The Rocks had four errors in an extra innings loss to Brownsburg during the week, and mustered just four runs on four hits with 18 strikeouts.

"It was a little more (about our) bats that game," Kainrath said. "I think we were a little high-strung and nervous, but once we started relaxing, we were able to make contact. We need to start relaxing sooner."

Tanner working her way back

Tanner, the Rocks' junior ace, dealt with a "little stress reaction" in her fibula that had her in a boot for a couple weeks right before the start of tryouts. It did not cause her to miss any games, but she is still working to find a steady rhythm. (Though, she has a 3.66 ERA and 34 strikeouts through 28.2 innings vs. a tough schedule.)

"Chloe's very hard on herself, but in a good way," Kainrath said. "She keeps pushing herself and keeps getting better and better. She was pitching her fastest (today). She just keeps getting faster. She's trying to find her spots, but she's getting there."

Hank's headlines

Odds-and-ends, but with a snazzier looking subhead.

∎ Lapel wins its first Madison County title: The week's biggest result came from the Madison County tournament where the Bulldogs upset host Pendleton Heights, 8-6. Paige Stires tied the score in the fifth with a two-run double, then Laylah Gore followed a couple batters later with a g-ahead double that made it 4-3. A chain of RBI singles by Krystin Davis, Stires and Tatum Harper extended the lead to 8-3, and Lapel wound up needing those five additional runs as Ari Rector and Katelin Goodwin both drove in runs for the Arabians in the bottom of the seventh.

∎ Center Grove splits doubleheader with Penn: Both teams threw their aces in game one, a 9-8 Trojans win that saw the teams combine for 28 hits. Camille Biever, Ava Zachary, Abigail Widmar, Logan Rumble and Teagan Milewski all had multiple hits for Penn; Hannah Haberstroh, Mae Munson, Brynn Meyer, Riley Janda and Sydney Herrmann did the same for CG. The Kingsmen will be in Carmel this weekend.

∎ Ashley Sylvia walks it off x2 for Brownsburg: After breaking a 4-4 stalemate in the eighth vs. Westfield, Syliva did it again in the 7th vs. Tri-West, capping a 4-3 win with a squeeze bunt down the third-base line. Two great wins for the Bulldogs.

More: Brownsburg walks off vs. Westfield, Carmel hangs on vs. Lawrence North, more

∎ Cascade tops Avon behind late-inning surge: The Cadets scored five runs in the sixth and tacked on three more in the seventh to upend the Orioles, 8-5. Grace Gray struck out 12 and recorded a couple RBIs. Lacie Godby and Adie Paschal drove in two runs apiece, as well.

∎ New Palestine played a game! Fittingly, there was a rain delay after the first half inning, but the Dragons opened their season on Tues., April 9 with a 20-0 drubbing of East Central. They were rained out like three more times, but managed to find a replacement for Saturday's trip to Carmel, taking out Monrovia, 12-2.

∎ Milestone for Leah Helton: Congratulations to Zionsville sophomore Leah Helton who cleared 100 career strikeouts Saturday vs. Kokomo. The Eagles won, improving to 5-0. (I'll write about this more after I have a chance to see some more games, but gosh — Sectional 8 and the HHC might be even better than expected this season.)

Follow Brian Haenchen on Twitter at @Brian_Haenchen.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: What we learned from Indiana high school softball this past week