'We were the better team': Roncalli suffers heart-breaking loss in state softball finals

WEST LAFAYETTE — Saturday's Class 4A softball state championship game against Penn looked destined to be a Roncalli coronation and a fitting send-off for one of the best players in state history. After allowing just one run through seven innings, Florida-bound senior Keagan Rothrock put the team on her back once more, leading off the bottom of the seventh inning with a game-tying home run to deep left center.

That was the moment.

From three outs away from elimination to pure elation; the table had been set for the nationally ranked Royals to successfully defend their state title for a third straight year, this time against the rising power from Mishawaka.

But that is not how it ended.

A fifth-inning error, a ninth-inning wild pitch and eight runners left on base culminated in a heartbreaking 2-1 loss to Penn in nine innings.

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The Kingsmen (28-4-1) are state champions for the first time since 1999; the Royals (31-4-1) are left to lament what could have been.

"We were the better team," Roncalli coach David Lauck said. "I don't normally say that. I give credit to the team that beat us tonight, Penn, but we were the better team tonight and we just didn't get it done."

"We should have won," Rothrock said, fighting through tears as she continued. "We should have won. That's all I'm thinking about."

Rothrock was excellent in her final high school start: Three hits, two walks and 17 strikeouts.

She did not allow a hit through the first three innings, and had Izabella Hanna down 0-2 with two outs when a grounder was misplayed, allowing Izabella Hanna to score the game's first run.

Those uncharacteristic miscues in the field were "deflating," said Lauck, whose team then stranded runners on second and third in the bottom half of the inning.

Rothrock held serve in the sixth, then struck out the side in what felt like her final inning as a Roncalli pitcher. The emotions set in as Rothrock returned to the dugout, then began overwhelming her as she stepped into the box to lead off the seventh.

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That made what she did next all the more special.

Rothrock launched a 3-2 pitch from sophomore Olivia Signorino beyond the light pole behind the left-field wall. Rothrock was in tears as she rounded the bases. "I knew it was now or never. I just wanted to hit the ball," she said. "I knew that was my chance at keeping my team in the game and giving us one more chance."

The next two batters reached, then after posting a strikeout and catching a break when Roncalli was (correctly) called out for batter interference, Signorino hit Lyla Blackwell to load the bases.

Put the ball in play and it could be game over.

Instead, the sophomore rose to the occasion. Signorino ended the seventh with a three-pitch strikeout, then successfully navigated the heart of Roncalli's order an inning later.

The Royals finished with one run on four hits with three walks and eight strikeouts. Signorino accounted for five of those Ks, allowing just one run on three hits. Starter Aubrey Zachary allowed just one hit over 3.1 shutout innings. The defense behind them was nearly perfect, with a number of critical plays by senior shortstop Kiley Hinton looming particularly large.

"We had some girls who had some challenging at-bats tonight and that's normal when you face good pitching," Lauck said, complimenting both pitchers.

"They're obviously a well-coached team and a very, very talented team. We just didn't get clutch hits in those 2-3 innings when we had runners in scoring position and that's the way the game goes."

After giving up a lead-off triple to Ava Zachary — "She's a great hitter," Rothrock said — the three-time Gatorade Indiana Player of the Year posted back-to-back strikeouts to move within an out of maintaining the stalemate. But her 2-0 pitch to Widmar sailed over catcher Ann Marie Meek's mitt and to the backstop, allowing Zachary to come home with the eventual winning run.

"It was just a pitch that was up and a tad out of Ann Marie's reach," Rothrock said. "(There's) nothing either of us can control on that. … It was just a bad pitch."

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Roncalli put a runner on with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, but she collided with the second baseman as she fielded a ground ball, ending the game and Roncalli's title defense.

"Those kids are all connected," Lauck said of Penn. "That's a connected team and they're going to win another state championship before it's all said and done."

The sour finish aside, there is space to appreciate what Roncalli's Class of 2023 accomplished over their three seasons.

The eight-girl class — Blackwell, Anna Dressman, Abbey Hofmann, Kaitlyn Leister, Lauren Marsicek, Meek, Rothrock and Abby Willis — compiled a record of 95-6-1 over their three seasons with a 50-game unbeaten streak that spanned their sophomore through senior years and included a record-tying 47-game win streak.

Ranked nationally by MaxPreps through the majority of the past two seasons, the Royals were particularly dominant in the state tournament, boasting a run differential of 166-11 with 13 shutouts and 12 games decided by seven runs or more, including six of seven this season. They were one win away from matching New Palestine for the most consecutive state tournament wins (21).

"It has been an incredible ride," Lauck said of his senior class. "They have completely energized our entire school as far as school spirit, and it's been awesome to be a small part of that as their coach. … That group has a lot of good things ahead for them."

For her part, Rothrock will go down among the greatest athletes in state history. The 2022 Gatorade National Player of the Year and one of the top-ranked prospects in the country, she collected 77 wins with 13 perfect games and 22 no-hitters and posted a sub-0.50 ERA with nearly 1,100 strikeouts.

"Being a Roncalli Royal has meant the absolute world to me, because we have a great community behind us and I wouldn't trade it for the world, going to any other school," Rothrock said. "I'm so thankful to be a Royal and to have this kind of community supporting me all the time."

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indiana high school softball: Roncalli suffers heart-break in finals