Panthers seize the day in state championship win

Jun. 14—GREENWOOD — "Here comes the sun do, do, do

"Here comes the sun

"And I say it's all right" — George Harrison.

The sun was a factor in Saturday's Class 2A state championship game and played into an advantage for the Pioneer Lady Panthers.

A sun-aided hit by Mackenzie Robinson and a sun-aided error off the bat of Belle Blickenstaff led to the Panthers' first run in the second inning.

The Golden Arrows found out the hard way that you can't make mistakes against the Golden Panthers and expect to win.

The Panthers won 4-2 and pulled off an unprecedented Triple Crown of winning state titles in softball, girls basketball and volleyball in the same school year.

The Arrows outhit the Panthers 6-5 but the key stat of the game was the Arrows committed four errors to the Panthers' zero.

Lady Luck was on the Panthers' side during their tournament run. They needed a two-run home run by Hailey Cripe in the top of the sixth inning to beat Boone Grove 2-1 in a sectional semifinal game. Of course a lot of skill was involved as Cripe finishes her junior season third in the nation in home runs this year with 23.

The Panthers needed Sullivan — which otherwise played an outstanding game defensively — to commit three errors in the top of the sixth to score three runs to erase a 2-1 deficit on Saturday.

A big part of the high school game is putting pressure on opposing defenses. The great teams do that. Credit Emma Novaski for putting the ball in play and putting the pressure on the Arrows with two outs in the inning. Mackenzie Walker scored the tying run and Madison Blickenstaff scored what turned out to be the game-winning run.

"When I was standing on second and she was up to bat, I knew she was going to hit and we were going to score," Blickenstaff said. "I can't explain it, but every time she gets up to bat, she does her job, like every time, so I just knew that was going to happen. When she got us in, the energy changed, in our dugout, on the field, on defense, it was just different."

Also credit goes to Hailey Gotshall, who went undefeated during her Pioneer career in IHSAA Tournament games. She didn't even have her best stuff against a good hitting Sullivan team but held them to just two runs. She once again buckled down with runners on base and stranded eight runners for the game.

"I would say it was probably not her A game but she pitched well enough where the defense could back her up behind her," Walker said. "She doesn't always have to pitch 100% strikeout after strikeout. She knows her defense will be there whenever she needs it. But she came back and she pitched pretty well in the last few innings to shut them down."

The Panthers' defense wasn't flawless as they allowed two runners to reach on bunts in the fourth when they could have got an out at first. But Gotshall, Walker and Blickenstaff bailed them out with an inning-ending 1-2-5 double play, with the help of a Sullivan base runner oversliding the bag at third. If not, Gracie Shorter was due to come up at the plate. She doubled and scored a run in her previous at-bat. But Gotshall did strike her out to lead off the fifth.

Later in the fifth inning, a 7-6-5 putout helped the Panthers get out of another jam when Robinson threw a relay to Cripe who threw out a runner at third for the third out. If not there would have been two runners on.

"Our outfield did a great job and Jo did a great job too on paying attention to where the runners were and knowing where to throw as soon as they got the ball," Blickenstaff said of the key defensive plays the Panthers made.

The Arrows have been a miracle comeback team this year but they went to that well one too many times when they surrendered their 2-1 lead in the sixth.

But the Arrows had no seniors on their roster, so they should be able to come back strong. They finish the season ranked third in Class 2A on MaxPreps.com behind Pioneer and Tecumseh, which lost to Evansville Mater Dei 3-1 in a sectional final.

Junior pitcher Kendal Edmondson did not allow an earned run and held the Panthers to five hits.

"She worked us a lot outside," said Cripe, who singled, drew a walk and also reached on a hit by pitch. "In the first part of the game she worked a lot of offspeed as well. She kept us on our toes and she did a really good job of keeping us on our toes because we only got spotty hits here and there. But we eventually got to her at the end of the game when we needed to."

Belle Blickenstaff, a sophomore who is a big part of the Panthers' future, broke out of her slump in a big way. She had the fly ball to right that scored a run in the second, and she added an RBI double in the sixth that probably would have been a home run in any other park the Panthers played at during the tournament. The dimensions at Center Grove were more like a college-level field.

"After hitting that ball I knew I was finally back from the dump I've been having lately," Belle said. "But it felt really, really good to have the team support me."

Could the Panthers pull off a three-peat repeat next school year?

"I think if we put our mind to it we definitely could," Belle said.

But the Panthers will surely miss their seniors, including Gotshall, Walker and Madison Blickenstaff in softball.

"I'm definitely going to miss all of them," Belle said. "They have all been a big part of my life since I've been little playing with all of them all the way growing up. It's really going to be different without them."

The Panthers could not have achieved anything more this school year.

"Awesome. It feels greater each time we do it. It doesn't get old," Madison Blickenstaff said.

It is the Golden Era for Pioneer sports.

"Here comes the sun do, do, do

"Here comes the sun

"It's all right

"It's all right" — George Harrison.