Strong defense, clutch bench play nets 21st PH win

May 21—PENDLETON — The result of the first pitch and the last pitch Friday night were examples of why the Pendleton Heights softball pitchers have confidence to throw strikes.

The defense behind them is very good.

The Arabians flashed the leather time and again, and Sydney Clark delivered a pinch-hit home run and three crucial RBI off the bench as Pendleton Heights closed out its regular season with a 7-4 win over Fishers.

PH will enter the postseason winners of 21 games against six losses while Fishers dropped to 9-14 on the year.

The first delivery from PH starter Shelby Messer set the tone for this evening as Hailey Trueblood looped a fly ball over third base for what would have been a base hit were it not for the diving catch by Lillian Coffel in left field.

It was third baseman Brynn Libler's turn in the second inning as she recorded all three putouts — on just four pitches from Messer — including a diving snag that again robbed Trueblood of a single.

"As long as it doesn't go over the fence, I'm confident that we'll get an out," PH junior pitcher Eliza Findlay said. "Hailee (Brunnemer) has great diving catches in the outfield. Kieli (Ryan) behind the plate, nothing gets past her. It's really nice to know that if I miss my spot or my ball doesn't move, it'll still be an out."

The Arabians were held to one hit in a 2-0 loss to Yorktown the night before, and it took a second time through the order Friday before they started to figure out talented Tigers freshman Katherine Murray.

Murray — who entered the game with 125 strikeouts in 92 innings — retired seven of the first eight Arabian batters before Coffel's infield single ignited a third-inning rally.

Ryan followed with a line drive single to right, sending Coffel to third. One out later, after Ryan's courtesy runner Gloria Richardson swiped second, Coffel scored on a passed ball and Caroline DeRolf chased Richardson home with a single to center. The next batter was Khloee Gregory, and the senior shortstop belted a somewhat wind-aided two-run home run to center field, and it was a 4-0 lead for PH.

"Second time, I thought we started putting the ball in play and waiting on the ball a little bit better," PH coach Rob Davis said. "We weren't ready for the first strike, and (Murray) was coming at us with the first strike."

Fishers cut the lead in half in the fourth inning on a leadoff single by Sophie Schoch and the fifth home run of the year by Kaylee Kardash against Messer, who completed the frame for a solid four innings of three-hit, two-run ball with no walks.

To curb the momentum from Fishers, the Arabians needed a quick answer, and that came from Clark.

Libler led off the bottom of the fourth with a single to left, bringing Clark off the bench as a pinch-hitter. She launched a 2-2 pitch over the left-field fence, and the lead was back to four runs at 6-2.

"Sydney's been coming off the bench all year," Davis said. "You look at what Sydney's done all year long, and I've been using her as a pinch-hitter whenever there's two outs or runners in scoring position. She's pretty much executed all year, and even when she didn't execute, she hits the ball hard."

"I just battled, and she came inside, so I tried to get a hard base hit," Clark said.

Findlay came on in relief of Messer and delivered a scoreless fifth but ran into big-time trouble in the sixth.

The first three Tigers singled to load the bases with nobody out, prompting Davis to visit the mound.

"My mindset there was just to do whatever I could to get the outs," Findlay said.

Findlay was able to bear down and in the span of four pitches was out of the inning with minimal damage done. A pop out to Libler at third, followed by sacrifice fly to left by Hannah Abbott and an inning ending fly out to right fielder Kenzie Green diffused the situation.

Clark got that run back in the bottom of the inning when she singled home Katelin Goodwin after the sophomore reached on an error.

The Tigers did pick up a run in the seventh on a two-out single by Schoch, but Kardash's well-hit liner to center was speared by a diving Brunnemer to end the game.

The Arabians will open their postseason by hosting Sectional 9 and will play Richmond at 5:30 p.m. Monday afternoon. The winner will face Anderson in a Tuesday semifinal, also at 5:30.

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