Center Grove softball wins county tournament

Center Grove may not have a ton of home-run power, but its offense is still just as lethal as it’s ever been.

On Saturday afternoon at Russ Milligan Field, the defense was too.

The Class 4A No. 5 Trojans small-balled Franklin into submission, and freshman pitcher Riley Fuhr and the gloves behind her did the rest on the way to a 12-1 triumph over the Grizzly Cubs in the championship game of the Johnson County tournament.

“We were all just putting hits together,” said freshman infielder Brynn Meyer, who had three hits and scored twice in the win. “In the (semifinal against Edinburgh), we struggled with that, and we left a lot of people on base.”

Up 3-1 after one inning, the Trojans (20-5) created some more separation in the second and third.

Hannah Haberstroh and Meyer got the second inning started with a pair of infield hits, and Ashlynn Wolff followed with a perfect bunt single to load the bases. Payton Shimansky drew a walk to push Haberstroh across and Meyer scored on a Riley Janda groundout before Ana Powell delivered a two-run single to right field.

Haberstroh led off the third with a double, advanced on Meyer’s third single of the game and scored on an error to make it 8-1. With one out and runners on second and third, Janda drove in both with a base hit; she then stole third and came home on an RBI groundout by Samantha Bruce.

Pinch hitter Kiersten Hardin capped the scoring with an RBI single in the fourth.

The 10-run cushion was more than enough for freshman pitcher Riley Fuhr, who eased her way through the Franklin lineup after allowing an early first-inning run. Fuhr retired the side on just five pitches in the second inning and seven in the fourth. She wasn’t overpowering — just two strikeouts — but was more than effective enough, scattering four hits and walking none.

“What I struggled with in previous games was walking batters and letting them get on base freely,” Fuhr said. “My goal today was to give them stuff that they can hit, and not affect our defense by putting on runners that shouldn’t be on.”

Adeline Blackwell and Addison Martin led off the game with consecutive base hits for Franklin (13-12-1), and Blackwell advanced to third on a pop out to deep second base. The Grizzly Cubs then tried a double steal, and Blackwell managed to score while Martin was hung up in a rundown between second and third.

The Trojans, though, answered back with three runs in the bottom of the first, all of them coming with two out. An error allowed leadoff hitter =Haberstroh to come home from third, and back-to-back singles from Powell and Sydney Herrmann brought home Wolff and Janda to give the host team a two-run cushion.

Franklin earned its way into the title game with a 7-4 semifinal triumph over Whiteland.

Center Grove defeated Edinburgh, 6-0, with Fuhr and Aiyana Keown combining on a three-hit shutout. Trojans coach Alyssa Coleman was underwhelmed by her team’s performance against the young Lancers, but she was far more pleased by the effort in the championship showdown.

“We keep stressing to them it’s how you’re going to play, and that desire, and it showed up this game.” Coleman said after the final. “I don’t think it was in the first game, but our team showed up for this game, and that’s all I can ask.”