BEDFORD
After ranking among the state leaders in home runs and extra-base hits all season long, Class 4A No. 1 Roncalli used speed on the basepaths to pull away with a 7-1 win over 10th-ranked Shelbyville on Saturday evening in the championship game of the Bedford North Lawrence Semistate.
The Royals (32-0) took a slim 2-1 lead into the top of the sixth inning before senior Tori Candler and junior Lauren Marsicek hit consecutive one-out singles. After a wild pitch moved the runners up a base, junior Lyla Blackwell slapped a ball to the right side for an infield hit, scoring Candler, but Blackwell kept running, then froze between first and second base. Her move briefly froze the Shelbyville defense, allowing Marsicek to sneak home from third and score under catcher Karissa Hamilton’s tag while Blackwell advanced to second.
“We’ve worked on that rundown play, because it requires perfect timing,” said Blackwell, who finished 3 for 5. “But when it works, it’s a game-changer because it scores a run and puts another runner in scoring position.”
Leading 4-1 heading into the top of the seventh inning, the Royals sent nine batters to the plate, collecting three runs on five hits. The big blow was junior Abbey Hofmann’s leadoff line-drive home run to center field.
Junior Keagan Rothrock pitched a complete game, allowing just two hits for her 27th win of the season. The state leader with 359 strikeouts, Rothrock didn’t fan her first batter until the fifth inning. An adjustment allowed her to strike out the final six batters to end the game.
“I’m not used to where the hitters were in the box, hitting at the end of the rise,” Rothrock said, “so I focused on moving the ball later, rather than earlier, and that made the difference.”
The Royals advanced to the semistate title game with a 7-0 victory over No. 6 Pendleton Heights earlier in the day. They had at least two hits in every inning against the Arabians (25-7), but didn’t break through on the scoreboard until the third, when senior Kylie Freije’s bunt single scored junior Kaitlin Leister. They added another run in that inning, then single runs in the fourth, fifth and sixth, before Candler closed out the scoring with a two-run home run in the seventh. Rothrock allowed just four hits and struck out 13 for the complete-game victory.
Roncalli advances to the Class 4A state final this Saturday evening (7 p.m.) against West Lafayette Harrison at Purdue University’s Bittinger Stadium. The defending state champion, the Royals are vying to become the first team to repeat as Class 4A champion since Martinsville in 2005 and 2006.
“We’re going to go back to work and approach practice as we have all year, working on the small-ball game and on defense,” Roncalli head coach David Lauck said. “We’re excited about the opportunity in front of us and will be ready to go.”
