Heritage Hills wins Class 3A softball sectional title behind Rylie Schipp's pitching

LINCOLN CITY, Ind. — There were times Rylie Schipp could have come out of the circle for Heritage Hills during Friday's Class 3A sectional championship against Memorial.

The sophomore pitched through a foot injury and had been in a walking boot for the past two and a half weeks. Schipp tried not to think about her injury and ran on pure adrenaline. She started strong with two 1-2-3 innings, striking out a pair of Tigers in the process.

IHSAA softball: Sectional scores for the Evansville area

But after giving up her first hit in the third and her first walk in the fourth with two outs, Schipp began to falter. That didn't prevent her from overcoming the pain, though.

The Patriots used dramatics to eventually win 3-2 to claim Class 3A Sectional 32 for their eighth sectional title in program history and second in the past four years.

"It's still hurting pretty bad," Schipp said of her injury. "It's not really all the way healed. I think just not thinking about (the injury) and just thinking about the game made me play through it."

Heritage Hills (18-9) will host Tuesday's regional against either Pike Central (16-6) or No. 2-ranked Gibson Southern (27-4) depending on who wins Saturday's Sectional 31 final.

The Patriots will be up for another challenge after holding off the Tigers.

Memorial's Lilly Brown scored in the fifth to take a 2-1 lead on an error. Still, the Patriots rallied behind Schipp.

Jenna McDowell and Miriam Gordon scored the respective tying and go-ahead runs, and Schipp retired six of the next nine Memorial batters, completing a game for the first time in over a month.

She came through when it mattered most.

"We're really pleased with (Schipp)," Heritage Hills coach Joe Asbury said. "We were keeping an eye on her, and every time we thought she was getting in trouble a little bit, we might need to switch, because we're really confident with our other pitchers. She would make a pitch and hang in there. She deserved to stay in, and we left her in."

When Schipp first came back from her injury, McDowell noticed she was working her ankle around because of the soreness. Yet, Friday against Memorial, McDowell didn't notice anything unorthodox about her mechanics.

"I have so much confidence in Rylie in the circle," McDowell said. "I know that she's confident in herself, too. And it's just really special to be able to fight behind her. She's a great pitcher."

For Asbury and his team, advancing to the regional round is all about hay-making when the sun shines, and the Patriots had expectations to win the sectional this spring. Now, their goals are even greater.

"We can't wait until our senior year to make it important to us," Asbury said. "We all decided that it would be important to us right now, because we never know what's going to happen in the future."

"Now that we know (about winning a sectional), it's just going to keep us going and we're going to keep doing better," Schipp added. "And we're the same team next year because we don't lose anyone."

Courier & Press sports reporter Treasure Washington can be reached via her email, treasure.washington@courierpress.com, and on Twitter @Twashington490.

This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: IHSAA softball: Heritage Hills outlasts Memorial in Class 3A sectional