MOORESVILLE
Most of Whiteland’s current roster was still in diapers the last time the school celebrated a sectional championship on the softball field.
These Warriors came into the season intent on ending that drought — and on Wednesday evening, they did so in convincing fashion.
Senior pitcher Debbie Hill delivered a command performance, classmate Tara Watson had a pair of RBI hits from the bottom spot in the lineup and Class 4A No. 2 Whiteland claimed its first sectional title in 15 years with a 7-0 victory at third-ranked Mooresville. The two teams had split their regular-season home-and-home last week.
The Warriors (24-2) will now try to earn their first-ever regional crown next Tuesday at the winner of the Bloomington North Sectional.
“It feels great,” Hill said. “It’s unreal. We just put in so much hard work, and to see it finally pay off, it’s just awesome.”
“These kids have worked their butts off for this,” Whiteland coach Katie Mitchell said. “They deserve every moment of it.”
It didn’t take long for the Warriors — the home team on the scoreboard — to take control of this contest just seven days after dropping a 1-0 nail-biter on this same field.
After the Pioneers (28-4) stranded a runner on third in the top of the first inning, the Warriors struck quickly in the bottom half. Emma Piercy worked a leadoff walk and came all the way around when Josslyn Harbert ripped one into the left-center field gap for a triple. Harbert then jogged home on a Hill groundout to make it a 2-0 game.
That advantage continued to grow in the second. Kiley Sullivan led off with a triple to the warning track in right center and scored when Watson doubled off the left-field fence with one out. A throwing error on an Emma Piercy sacrifice bunt allowed Watson to score and forced Mooresville to pull starting pitcher Josi Hair. Whiteland proceeded to load the bases against reliever Alex Cooper but couldn’t add any more to the lead.
Watson struck again with two out in the third, though, dropping a base hit into shallow right to plate Sullivan for a second time.
“It was nice to be able to help my teammates out,” Watson said.
By that point, Hill had more than enough run support. The southpaw was in control from the giddy-up, scattering four hits and a walk while striking out 11. She didn’t shy away from confrontation with Cooper, either — the Pioneers’ star came in hitting .600 with 18 homers and a state-leading 64 RBIs, but Hill fanned her all three times she came up.
“I needed to hit my spots and just throw hard,” Hill said. “She’s a great hitter, and I’ve just got to throw it and trust myself, trust my defense behind me and know that they can have my back too.”
Whiteland all but slammed the door shut in the fifth, stretching the lead to 7-0 with two more runs. Watson reached on a one-out error, Piercy followed with an infield hit and both eventually trotted home on wild pitches.
The Warriors again left the bases loaded, but Mooresville never made them regret the missed opportunity.
Wednesday’s victory was just the latest and biggest step for a team that decided before the season began that it was destined for bigger things.
“We just decided to believe in ourselves this year and be like, ‘Hey, we’re totally capable of doing this,’” Watson said. “Kind of speaking it to each other and just telling each other we can do this, ‘We’ve got this; we’re up there with everyone else.’ We just kind of spoke it into believing it, and it worked out for us.”
While hoisting that sectional trophy into the air was a watershed moment for the Warriors, the feeling afterward was that it won’t be the last.
“We can go deep,” Hill said. “We just play Whiteland softball. Our team chemistry is great, and if we just play all together and start fast, all gas, no brakes, we’re going far.”
