Prep roundup for Saturday, May 8

May 8—Northwestern's girls tennis team won the Hoosier Conference title Friday night at Twin Lakes.

"This is the first time in school history to win [the Hoosier] championship," coach Kathie Layden said. "We had some tremendous matches [Friday] against really tough competition. This is not an easy conference to win with 10 teams, a team who has been ranked in the top 25 in West Lafayette, and just great tennis programs in general."

The Tigers' biggest highlight came at No. 2 doubles where Emily Goltz and Anna Grube won the title. They had a 6-3, 6-4 win vs. West Lafayette in the semifinal round and a 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 win vs. Lafayette Central Catholic in the championship.

Layden loved the fight she saw from Goltz and Grube in the title match.

"They dropped the first set 3-6 and played so focused and determined to win the next two sets," she said.

Also for the Tigers, No. 1 singles player McKenna Layden and No. 2 singles player Kat Grube had runner-up finishes and No. 3 singles player Avery Rooze had a third-place finish.

McKenna Layden beat Western's Eliza Lutgen 7-6 (7-2), 6-2 in the semifinal round before falling to West Lafayette's top player in the final. Grube had a 7-6 (7-4), 6-3 win vs. LCC in the semifinal round before falling to Western's Chloe Schmidt in the final.

"Kat had a huge win for us in her match against LCC," Kathie Layden said. "She was down 5-2 in the first, then down 6-5, and came back to win the first set tiebreaker. Then had a tough championship match falling in tiebreakers in both sets."

Rooze dropped her semifinal match vs. LCC, but came back to beat Western's Macie Lockwood 6-4, 6-4 for third place.

"Avery Rooze has just been so good and had a fantastic win for a third-place finish that was so important for us to get the team championship," Kathie Layden said.

Northwestern's title comes in the midst of the Tigers putting together another undefeated season in dual matches.

PERU 5, WABASH 0

The Bengal Tigers got straight-set wins at all five points in a sweep of a Three Rivers Conference rival. Mackey Hyde, Lauren Boyer and Emma Eldridge won singles matches, and the teams of Molly Gray with Cate Wolfe, and Libby Rogers with Cassidy Bartel won doubles points.

SOFTBALL

EASTERN 15, TWIN LAKES 2, 5 INNings

The Class 2A No. 4-ranked Comets scored 11 runs in the first inning to take control against the Indians in pool play at Twin Lakes' invitational.

Cassidy Keene and Hope Smith led the Comets at the plate. Keene was 3 for 4 with a homer, triple and three RBI and Smith was 3 for 3 with two triples and two RBI. Emily Benson also had a nice game at the plate, cracking a double and single and driving in two runs.

"I was pleased we came out on the attack offensively," coach Steve Bratcher said. "We really made some things happen and that ignited a big first inning for us. Cassidy and Hope had solid games at the plate, and overall we had really quality at bats throughout our entire lineup."

Macy Coan pitched all five innings. She allowed three hits, struck out eight and walked none.

"She adjusted to the [high winds] and really battled for us," Bratcher said.

CASS 5, DELPHI 2

Paxtyn Hicks went 2 for 4 with two doubles and two RBI to lead the Kings past the Oracles in pool play at Twin Lakes' invitational.

Also for Cass, Cana Jones was 3 for 3 with two runs, Madison Dormer was 2 for 4 with an RBI and a run and Kelsey Roller provided a spark with two sacrifice bunts.

Dormer pitched all seven innings. She struck out six.

Cass plays Pioneer and Munster today to finish pool play.

BASEBALL

CASS 4, TAYLOR 3

Taylor led 3-0 after scoring a run in the top of the fourth inning, but Cass (4-9) countered with two runs in the bottom of the fourth and two more in the fifth to edge the Titans (5-12).

Jaylen Harris went 2 for 3 for the Titans' offense. Nathan Keene and Owen Shimer were each 2 for 4. Michael Pemberton took the loss in relief. Eli Harris threw 3 2/3 innings for Taylor with seven hits, two earned runs, no walks and no strikeouts but didn't factor in the decision. Hunter Williams threw the sixth inning with no hits, runs or walks and struck out a batter.

"We were up 3-0 going into the bottom of the fourth and the game was going how we wanted in terms of our pitching, our defense was clean and crisp," Taylor coach Kris Dill said. "Then in the bottom of the fourth we brought in Michael Pemberton. He's a guy that we feel confident in that when he's in the game he can shut teams down, and he walked three guys and we had a mental mistake — a throwing error but it was also kind of a mental mistake.

"It was late in the game, it allowed them to take the lead. We just didn't recover after that."

BOYS GOLF

WABASH 179, MAC 184, NORTHFIELD 216

Wabash posted its best nine-hole score of the season to win a three-team gathering on the back nine at Honeywell G.C. in Wabash.

Hayden Williamson led Maconaquah with a round of 40. Mason Taylor shot 44, Lane Brehmer shot 49 and Triston Herschberger 51.