From GreenfieldReporter.com
FORTVILLE â??? It took the greatest defensive play
Mike McGill has ever seen to win the best softball game the Mt. Vernon
(Fortville) coach has ever been a part of.
In the fifth inning of a 4-3 contest that already felt like a classic the
morning of May 26, Brandy Brown of 10th-ranked host Mt. Vernon
rocketed a shot that appeared well on its way to tying top-ranked Pendleton
heights in the Class 3A Sectional 27 sectional championship game.
But Shonda Garringer thought differently. In an all-out sprint, the Arabiansâ??
junior rightfielder raced to the wall, made a leaping catch, instantly collided
with the fence in midair, somersaulted over the fence, landed among the fans that
had lined the outfield wall â?¦ then stood up and showed an utterly wowed crowd
the ball in her mitt like a magician pulling a rabbit out of a hat.
â?If there’s anybody in this stadium that didn’t think that was the greatest
defensive play they’ve seen in their lifetime, they just don’t know softball,â?
McGill said. (It is still an out even if the fielder lands outside the field of
play after catching the ball.) â??For a kid to run full speed into the fence like
that and steal that home run, that was a great play.
â??I told
(Garringer) that was the greatest play I’ve ever seen, and I’ve seen a lot of
softball.â?
That spectacular grab was just one moment in a game that will not soon be
forgotten by anyone lucky enough to witness the show in Fortville that Saturday
morning.
â?It was the best softball game I’ve seen probably ever,â? McGill said of the 5-4
contest decided by Tiffany Held’s one-out RBI single that scored her sister
Chelsea in the bottom of the seventh.
But who would have really thought it would have been this good? After all, Pendleton Heights strutted into the title game
with a 28-1 record and that No. 1 ranking, and the Arabians already had put a
15-2 beatdown on the Marauders (22-6) earlier in the year.
â?The credit goes to Alyssa Collins,â? McGill said of the senior centerfielder
who will play at Ball
State next year. â??She
convinced those kids that they could win this game.
â??If we did it
again, I’m not so sure she’s not correct.â?
Unlike the 13-run loss on May 3, the Marauders played like a team determined to
prove they were every bit as good as Pendleton
Heights.
Even with the defeat, Mt.
Vernon did just that. A
break here or there, and it would be the Marauders moving on to face Greensburg in the June 2 Pendleton
Heights Regional.
â?We played them head to head all the way through,â? McGill said. â??Pitching,
hitting â?¦ we battled and just came up a little short.
â??Shame on them if
they don’t win state now, because they just beat a very good team. I feel like we
are one of the top two or three teams in the state, and if we’re going to lose,
weâ??d just as soon lose to the state champs.â?
The Marauders put together a championship effort in what McGill called the
programâ??s biggest game in five years.
It started with Nikki Laubecher’s performance on the mound. The junior ace
spread out 10 hits through seven innings, never allowing the high-scoring Arabians
to put the game out of reach.
â?Nikki became a pitcher today,â? McGill said. â??She hit her spots, and she executed
the (game plan) just as well as anybody could.
â??If she does the
off-season work that I know she will, this kid is going to be a monster.â?
But Laubecher was equally effective at the plate. She doubled in Collins to put
Mt. Vernon up 1-0 in the first. Then after
freshman Brooke Allgood’s infield single, Laubecher crushed a two-run home run
to make it a 4-3 game in the fifth.
Brown’s robbed
homer came on the next at-bat.
With two outs in the sixth, Lindsey Beisser, who had come in to relieve Pendleton Heights starter Maja Warrum at the start
of the inning, walked pinch-hitter Jessica Marks. Collins kept the inning going
with a single, then Allgood’s single drove in pinch-runner Margi Untrauer to
tie the game at 4.
Brown got on in the top of the seventh with Mt. Vernon’s
ninth hit of the contest, but she was left stranded. The Marauders left nine on
base, including three in the first.
â?We’re not walking out of here with our heads down.â? said McGill, who noted his
Marauders started four freshmen. â??We’re walking out of here with our heads up
and very optimistic about our future.â?
Though the coach said it would be â??impossibleâ? to replace Collins’ leadership,
the Marauders’ lineup will return almost entirely intact next season with eight
starters coming back.
â??As I told the girls, you’ve proven you can play with the best team in the
state, and next year you’re going to be so much better,â? McGill said. â??I just
can’t wait for next year.â?
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