Mathena and Talea Bowling combined for three home runs and eight RBIs, helping power Indian Creek to a 16-3 drubbing of a shorthanded Edinburgh squad in the opening round of the Johnson County tournament on Friday evening.
The Braves (6-11) will play host Center Grove in a semifinal game at 10 a.m. today.
"I’ve been kind of down in a slump, and (coach Gary Mitchell) always tells me, ‘When it comes, it’s going to come when we need it the most,’" said Mathena, who homered twice and drove in five runs. "So I think that kind of just happened tonight when we needed it the most."Â
The Lancers (11-10) scored a pair of runs in the top of the first, but Indian Creek responded with fury in the bottom half, taking advantage of five Edinburgh errors to put 13 runs on the board. Talea Bowling had an RBI infield single in her first at-bat, then later punctuated the big inning with a two-run homer. Mathena had a two-run single and Kayla Lemmon also knocked in a run with a base hit.
A solo home run from Mathena in the second inning stretched the Braves’ lead to a dozen, and she added a two-run shot in the fourth to close out the scoring.
The junior was pretty straightforward when asked what type of pitch she was looking for on the two long balls.
"A strike," Mathena said with a laugh.
Edinburgh left the bases loaded in the third, then squandered an opportunity for a big inning in the fourth. The Lancers got an RBI single from Paige Burton and had two runners on with one out, but Indian Creek hurler Alley Fleener got Grace Joiner to line into an inning-ending double play with Sidney Beier on deck.
Another double play and a throwout at second by center fielder Kayla Lemmon off of a two-out base hit helped the Braves finish the game off in five.
Mitchell was pleased with how his team answered the bell after Edinburgh took an early lead.
"That’s what impressed me most," he said. "We’ve had a tendency this year to not punch back when we needed to. They’ve been playing pretty good ball here down the stretch, playing good as a team and enjoying playing together, and it’s showing up out on the field."
The Lancers were without top pitcher Shelby Graham, who has been battling an elbow injury for the past few weeks. Edinburgh coach Ben Taylor said Graham tried to give it a go Friday, but after about five warmup pitches it was clear that wasn’t going to happen.
Beier was called upon for a rare appearance in the pitching circle and recorded just two outs before being replaced by Joiner. The early miscues, Taylor noted, obviously didn’t help Beier out.
"We should have come out of that first inning up two," he said. "We had three outs there that we gave up; that’s the girls just not executing the way that they need to."
