Davis nabs 200th win in rain-shortened Horseshoe

Apr. 10—PENDLETON — For the third straight year, Mother Nature interrupted the Horseshoe Classic softball tournament in Pendleton, although for the first time since 2018, games were played.

In their second game of the day, Pendleton Heights hammered five home runs to overcome an early seven-run deficit for a 22-15 win over Jennings County.

The slugfest — the Panthers also hit three long balls — was the 200th career victory for Arabians head coach Rob Davis

"It's about the kids. If it weren't for the kids, I wouldn't have 200 wins," he said. "I'm not here for the wins and the losses. I'm here to compete and have fun. I really like the group of girls we have here, and to get to 200 wins with (daughter) Kylie (Davis) was special."

Normally set up as a tournament, this year's Classic was altered to be a round-robin event with an earlier finish in an attempt to beat the rain. But after the event was canceled in 2019 due to freezing temperatures and in 2020 due to COVID-19, the rain finally ended this year's Classic during the third round of games when the field conditions were deemed too unsafe for players to continue.

Decatur Central was leading Jennings County 3-0 in the second inning, and Lake Central held a 9-5 advantage over Elwood in the top of the fourth when play was halted. Elwood was rallying with three runs in and the bases loaded and two out when the day ended.

The five runs scored by Elwood (1-3) were the first scored against Lake Central (5-0) this season but will not count due to the game not being completed.

The Panthers dropped their first game to Center Grove by a 10-4 score. Alivia Boston hammered a three-run homer, and Jaleigh Crawford was 3-for-3 with an RBI to lead Elwood. In the Lake Central game, Olivia Shannon had two hits and an RBI, and Kenzie Cornwell walked twice with the bases loaded to drive in runs for Elwood and was the last batter of the day.

For the host Arabians, the day started with a 5-1 loss to Decatur Central, which got a near-perfect start from pitcher Emma Etter-Cox.

The Hawks built a 5-0 lead thanks in part to the long ball. Dylann Cravens hit a solo shot in the third inning, and Etter-Cox helped her own cause with a solo homer in the fifth.

In the circle, Etter-Cox was dominating. She retired the Arabians in order for the first six innings and knocked off the first two batters of the seventh. But, one-out away from a perfect game, she surrendered a first-pitch home run to Kieli Ryan to break up the perfect game and the shutout with one swing. Grace Scott followed with an infield hit, but Etter-Cox rebounded with her 13th strikeout to end the game.

Most of her success came up in the strike zone, and the Arabian hitters had a tough time laying off.

"I was a little disappointed in the first game. I don't think we competed very well at the plate," Davis said. "I thought some were just swinging to be swinging and weren't really concentrating hard enough, I guess."

In the second game, the Arabians found themselves down 7-0 before ever coming to the plate.

But with the power Pendleton Heights (4-2) possesses at the plate, that deficit did not last long.

The Arabians scored two in the first, three in the second and exploded with five in the third and six more in the fourth to take a 16-11 lead. After the Panthers closed the gap to one in the sixth, the Arabians answered with six more — three on a home run by Hailee Brunnemer — to put the game out of reach.

Brunnemer's bomb was one of five for the Arabians, with Scott and Davis also going deep and Bo Shelton connecting twice — her second two-home run game of the season. Twice in the game, PH hit back-to-back shots.

Davis and Shelton were each 4-for-4 with Shelton driving in six runs.

PH and Elwood will now turn their attentions to the Madison County tournament, which begins Tuesday with the Panthers hosting Frankton (2-0) and the Arabians visiting Madison-Grant (1-2) at 5:30 p.m.

"It's going to be a fun and interesting county tournament," Davis said. "I haven't played Madison-Grant in a very long time, and I'm looking forward to traveling up there."

Contact Rob Hunt at rob.hunt@heraldbulletin.com or 765-640-4886.