Center Grove’s Grant Sawa rounds third base on his way to scoring a run during Wednesday’s game at Columbus East.
Tommy Walker | For the Daily Journal
Baseball
Trojans settle for tie
The way Wednesday’s baseball season opener started, it looked like Class 4A No. 5 Center Grove would cruise to an easy win at Columbus East.
But after giving up three runs and six hits in falling behind 3-0 after 1 1/2 innings, the Olympians came to life. They battled back to take the lead on two occasions and after falling behind again, tied the game in the bottom of the sixth, moments before the game was called because of darkness with the score tied 7-7 in the top of the seventh.
The Trojans jumped on the board with two runs in the first on a leadoff double by Tyler Cerny, a two-out single by Owen Guilfoy and a triple by Garrison Barile. They added a run in the second on a leadoff double by Grant Sawa and a one-out single by Sam Griffith.
After East scored four times off Ben Murphy in the bottom of the second Center Grove tied it with a run in the third. Sawa singled, stole second and scored on a one-out single by Griffith.
The Olympians scored twice in the bottom of the third off Elijah Matheson, but the Trojans scored three times in the fifth to take a 7-6 lead. Drew Culbertson had an RBI single, the tying run scored on an error and Barile was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.
East tied it with a run in the sixth. Center Grove put two runners on with one out in the seventh when the game was called.
Barile, Sawa, Griffith and Cerny had two hits each for the Trojans.
“Offensively, I was really happy with what we did,” Center Grove coach Keith Hatfield said. “Defensively and on the mound, I was pretty disappointed. Everything that we made mistakes on is correctable.”
Softball
Trojans roll in home opener
Ashlynn Wolff went 4 for 4 with a pair of doubles, helping Center Grove roll to a 13-3 home win over Zionsville on Wednesday. Riley Henson was the winning pitcher for the Trojans (1-1).
Golf
Shepherd begins play at ANWA
Center Grove graduate Erica Shepherd got off to a rough start at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur on Wednesday, shooting a 7-over-par 79 in her opening round at Champions Retreat. The Duke junior, starting from the 10th tee, played her first nine in 2 over before falling back with double bogeys on the second and fourth holes on the front side. She bogeyed 6 and 8 before closing her day with a birdie on 9.
The top 30 players after today’s second round will make the cut for Saturday’s final round at Augusta National. Shepherd, currently tied for 59th and five strokes off the cut line, is one of just four players to reach the final round in both of the previous editions of the tournament; she tied for 16th last year and tied for 23rd at the inaugural event in 2019.
Franklin College
Baseball wraps road trip with win
Playing the final game of its spring break trip, Franklin College held on for a 7-6 victory over Williams College on Wednesday. Matt Early had two RBIs for the Grizzlies (15-5), who scored six runs in the second inning to take a 7-0 lead. Matthew Johnson went six innings on the mound for the win, scattering five hits and striking out four.
