Indian Creek’s Delaney Jones, right, high-fives coach Gary Mitchell after hitting a three-run homer to put her team up 7-0 against Whiteland.
Rob Baker | For the Daily Journal
A pitcher tends to be a lot more comfortable when she has a lead before she even steps into the circle. Indian Creek made Delaney Jones feel downright cozy on Friday night.
The Braves staked their hurler to a first-inning cushion, and she had little trouble holding onto it — especially after padding it herself. Jones pitched five three-hit innings and helped her own cause with a three-run homer on the way to an 11-5 win at Whiteland in the opening round of the Johnson County tournament.
“Delaney was on top of her game, man,” Indian Creek coach Gary Mitchell said. “The last few weeks, the last few games, I’ll tell you what, she’s got a different look on her face. She’s determined. She comes in there and she’s ready to go, and she did that tonight for us.”
Creek (11-8) advances to play a semifinal game Saturday morning against Franklin. The Grizzly Cubs needed an extra innings to win the first meeting between the two, 6-5.
Saturday morning’s other semifinal pits tourney host Center Grove, which coasted to a 14-0 win over Edinburgh, against Greenwood, which was a 12-0 winner over Greenwood Christian. The championship game is slated for 12:30 p.m.
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The Braves jumped on Whiteland starter Kaelyn Putnam for four runs in the top of the first inning. Kristen Soots led off with a base hit up the middle, stole second and scored when Jada Shepard reached on an error. Shepard then came all the way around from first on a double by Addie Schaub, who then moved to third on a wild pitch and scored on a sacrifice fly to right by Jones. Creek’s final run of the frame came when Jasmine Day delivered a two-out single to left and scored on a double to the wall by Madi Bracken.
“I am so proud of our team for putting together hits like that,” Jones said. “It’s really nice as a pitcher.”
After falling behind, the Warriors (11-10) called on freshman Jordyn Crouch to take over in the pitching circle, and the lefty did what she could to keep her team in the game for a while, retiring the first 11 hitters she faced. But with two out in the fifth, Shepard singled to left field and Schaub walked to set the table for Jones, who slugged a Crouch offering over the fence in left center to stretch the Braves’ lead to seven runs.
The Whiteland offense, meanwhile, was unable to solve Jones until it was too late. The sophomore saved herself with two on and nobody out in the first inning, snaring a Maddy Myers liner and doubling Josslynn Harbert off of first to throw water on a budding Warrior rally, and she notched a strikeout to strand a pair of baserunners in the fourth.
Harbert broke up the shutout bid in the bottom of the fifth with a double up the middle that scored Crouch, but Indian Creek catcher Alli Gavin prevented further damage by picking off one baserunner at third and then throwing out another trying to steal for the third out.
Jones struck out six and walked five on the evening.
Creek tacked on some insurance in the top of the seventh, with Soots scoring on an RBI fielder’s choice by Shepard and Gavin belting a three-run homer. Whiteland closed the gap somewhat in the bottom of the inning when Myers hit a grand slam out to center field.
First-inning barrages were the order of the day across the tourney bracket.
Class 4A No. 9 Center Grove (15-6) scored eight times in its first frame, making quick work of the Lancers. Hayden Baird hit a three-run homer in her lone at-bat, while Hannah Haberstroh, Brynn Meyer and Madisyn Tharpe each drove in a pair of runs. Pitchers Riley Fuhr and Aiyana Keown combined on a two-hitter, striking out eight.
Greenwood, likewise, put up six runs in the first inning and four more in the second against the Cougars. Courtney Hankenhoff, Emma Chism and Gracelyn Bowles had three RBIs apiece for the Woodmen (13-8), with Hankenhoff homering and combining with Bella Blythe for 13 strikeouts in a two-hitter.
Indian Creek, meanwhile, is looking forward to a chance to face Franklin a second time.
“We let one get away the first time,” Mitchell said. “We don’t intend to let that happen again.”
