For the Daily Journal
The Alyssa Coleman era got off to a great start for the Center Grove softball team this season, so it was natural that it continued in the opener of the sectional on Monday night.
Lexi Fair’s two-run shot past the left field fence in the bottom of the sixth inning gave the third-ranked Trojans a thrilling 2-0 win against a stubborn Franklin Central team.
“We looked at this as a championship type game,” Coleman said. “We knew coming in that it was going to be a game and that’s what we got. Just a solid performance by our team against a good team.”
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The Trojans (22-3) will play a semifinal game today against Martinsville, which defeated Greenwood 11-2 in Monday’s first game.
Center Grove senior Abby Herbst went against not one, but two Franklin Central pitchers, southpaw Hailey Pardue and right-hander Casey Mathews, both seniors.
Herbst won by not only striking out 13 Flashes and giving up only four singles, but by keeping her poise in potentially dangerous situations.
“I was banking on our defense having my back and I knew I had good stuff before the game,” Herbst said. “I also knew this was going to be close and I had to keep my team in it.”
That poise came through more than once as Franklin Central threatened to score in three different innings.
In the second, consecutive singles helped put runners on second and third base with one out. Herbst then coolly fielded a dink hit for an assist on one out and struck out another to end the threat.
The Flashes had another shot in the sixth inning with runners again on second and third, but a line drive catch by shortstop Piper Belden and strikeout by Herbst again denied Franklin Central.
Finally, in the final inning, Herbst gave up a leadoff single and hit the next batter, but a flyout and two more strikeouts sent the Trojans to the semifinals.
The game’s only scoring came when Fair, the other half of the Trojan battery, blasted the first pitch she saw from Mathews for her fourth home run of the season.
“I usually take the first pitch the first time I’m up against a pitcher, but I had seen her earlier and saw a pitch that I liked and swung away,” Fair said. “I wasn’t sure if it was a fastball or screw, but I knew it was gone when I hit it.”
The Trojans had six hits overall, with two each by Herbst and Fair.
In Monday’s opener, Martinsville pounded out 21 hits to knock the Woodmen out of the tournament. It was the third time this season the Artesians (16-12) beat their Mid-State rivals.
Greenwood bows out of a tough campaign with a 6-19 record, having lost their last six.
“Little victories I think would probably be our biggest assessment of the year,” Greenwood coach Greg Norwood said. “That was kind of our thing.”
Martinsville started out slow, scoring only twice in three innings, but then the Artesians exploded for the bulk of their runs in the fourth and fifth, scoring four in each.
Senior catcher Annah Elliott provided the muscle for Martinsville, going 4 for 4 with a triple and four RBIs. Paige Dorsett had two hits, including a home run to dead center field. Pitcher Madison Lindsey helped her own cause with three hits, including a homer of her own.
Greenwood senior catcher Alexis Rees capping off a four-year varsity career in nice fashion with two of the Woodmen’s five hits, including a center-field blast of her own.
The Woodmen graduate eight players, including four-year starters Rees and Allison Hayes.
“We’ll have five returning starters and they are still young, and it will get better,” Norwood said.
