Gritty comeback against sectional nemesis sends East Central into regional round

By Mike McGraw
Executive Director

SHELBYVILLE — Earlier this season, HoosierAuthority.com profiled the quiet success of the East Central softball program. During the interview for that piece, coach John Roth lamented that his teams had been good for several years but seemed incapable of getting past Columbus East at sectional time. The Olympians were simply East Centralâ�?��?�s nemesis.

And heading into the Class 4A Shelbyville Sectional championship game the evening of May 27, it looked for all the world as though the monkey was once again perched comfortably on sixth-ranked East Centralâ�?��?�s back. In practice just the day before, second baseman Ashton Meyer collided with a teammate and came away with a broken nose and concussion. The injury forced Roth into some last-minute line-up shuffling, resulting in freshman Kallen Hovland starting her first varsity game.

The situation got no better as the title tilt progressed. With the score tied 2-2 in the bottom of the fifth, Columbus East hitters finally appeared to time the deliveries of Trojan senior left-hander Lauren Cormican. The Olympians pounded across two runs to take a late-game 4-2 lead.

It was at this point that someone in the East Central dugout picked up a bat and knocked the monkey halfway back to St. Leon. If you guessed that that someone was a fill-in ninth-grader, DING!DING!DING! Hovlandâ�?��?�s hit in the top of the sixth cut the lead in half at 4-3. And, she struck again in the seventh, helping spark another single-run rally that tied the score.

Meanwhile, hurler C.J. Combs, who had replaced Cormican in the sixth, overpowered Columbus East batters in the bottom of the seventh to send the game into extra innings.

In the top of the eighth, East Central wasted no time in taking advantage of their second chance. Lead-off hitter Brittany Hoff singled. Brittany Weglan followed with a blast to the fence that ended as a triple, scoring Hoff. Weglan then scurried home on an overthrow at third. The two runs were all that Combs needed. She fanned two in a 1-2-3 bottom of the inning, and the celebration was on.

Next up for East Central is a date June 4 with traditional softball powerhouse No. 3 Martinsville in the Jeffersonville Regional. HoosierAuthority.com told you a few weeks ago that this was the best-kept secret in Indiana softball, and we have seen nothing to change our minds. These East Central kids are a gritty group of young ladies, and they wonâ�?��?�t go away quietly at any level of the tourney.