Penn throws up a dime to claim eighth straight softball sectional title with a no hitter

MISHAWAKA — Aubrey Zachary's first real taste of postseason play was sure a sweet one Friday night.

The Penn sophomore tasted that sectional success in a big way too.

Zachary combined with junior Harmony Looney to fire a no-hitter as the No. 14 Kingsmen blanked Riley 10-0 in five innings in the title game of the Class 4A Mishawaka Sectional at Ward Baker Park.

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Penn, winners of eight straight sectional titles, advances to the one-game regional Tuesday night. The Kingsmen (21-9) will play at the winner of the Warsaw Sectional. The Warsaw Sectional final between Northridge and Concord is set for 11 a.m. Saturday.

Northridge beat Elkhart 10-0 and Concord topped Warsaw 18 -2 in the semifinals at Warsaw Friday night.

Riley, which picked up its first sectional win since 2016 on Wednesday night, finishes at 11-17.

Zachary worked the first three innings to earn her 12th win of the season. The smart and gritty righthander had eight strikeouts, one walk and one hit batter. She walked the first batter of the game and then just took control.

Junior Looney then finished the game by going the final two innings, striking out three.

Penn finished the game with a nifty 1-6-3 double play after a Riley batter reached on an error.

Aubrey Zachary was forced to miss the postseason a year ago due to a hip injury, having to watch and cheer as her team won both sectional and regional championships. She was all smiles while posing for photos on Emery Petko Field Friday night following her first win in the circle in a postseason contest.

"This means everything," said Aubrey Zachary. "The first time to be out there in a sectional. I'm so excited. I worked hard to get back.

"This just shows all the hard work that all of us have put in. It's all about everyone doing their job and executing. We just came in here like everyone was 0-0 and focused on doing our jobs."

The Kingsmen, who have faced a juggernaut of a schedule, definitely did their job.

Penn, which beat Riley 15-1 in five innings in an NIC game back on April 11 in the season opener, got contributions from a plethora of players on its youthful squad.

The Kingsmen, who have no seniors, scored three times in the home half of the first frame. Penn used two hits, two walks and a Riley error to make it 3-0. Sophomore Abby Widmar drove in one run with a groundout. The Wildcats got a great play by centerfielder Victorya Harmon to keep it at three runs. The freshman fired a perfect strike to home plate to get junior Kiley Hinton, who was trying to score on a hit by freshman Camille Biever.

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Widmar,  Penn's big cleanup bat, drove in two more runs in the second with a two-run single to make it 5-0. Widmar entered play Friday night with a team-high 29 RBI and 19 extra base hits, including five homers.

The Kingsmen put the game away with five runs in the third inning. Looney blasted a solo homer over the leftfield fence to make it 6-0. Junior Alexis Riem had a two-run triple in the frame and freshman Ava Zachary an RBI single.

The Kingsmen beat rival Mishawaka 5-2 and Adams 4-1 to advance to the title game. Penn had lost 1-0 to Mishawaka in 10 innings during the regular season.

Penn coach Beth Zachary, who is also the mother of both Aubrey and third baseman Ava, was beaming with pride following the win.

"This is my 16th year at Penn and Aubrey is 16," said Beth Zachary, taking a second to collect herself. "This means everything. It's pretty cool to see it come full circle for us like this. I'm just so proud of her. The way she worked to come back from her injury.

"She just settled in tonight and was focused. She digs in when she needs to. She's a high achiever in everything she does. We call her Mom because she's so responsible.

"We talked about playing for each other this week and our kids did just that. There is a lot of pressure versus great competition in our sectional and they responded.

"They did everything right when they needed to. They trust each other. They came in her on the big stage under the lights with the target on us and they performed. They are just such a fun group."

Riley freshman Kaelynn Howell went the distance in the circle for the Wildcats.

Riley, which beat LaPorte 6-5 in the semifinals Wednesday night after a three-hour rain delay, was in its first sectional final in six years.

"This experience will only help us," said Riley coach Shawn Jenkins. "To get to see the level we need to play at. We will learn from this, grow from this and get better.

"We came in feeling we could compete with Penn tonight. I thought we had a good gameplan. We just did not execute. But we will learn from it.

"We just have to go put the work in during the summer that we need to. We have to get bigger, stronger and faster. We want to be respected as a program. We want to play the game the right way and do the right things."

Riley, which started six freshmen Friday night, loses two seniors in Haylee Wyckoff and Ashley DeLeon.

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: IHSAA softball: Penn wins sectional title over South Bend Riley