TERRE HAUTE — Two games are rematches of one kind or another, one involves a mystery team and one involves an opponent in the too-much-information category.
That’s the state of high school baseball regionals involving Wabash Valley teams today, in which Terre Haute South, West Vigo and Shakamak play home games and Rockville goes on the road.
The Braves have a 6 p.m. game Class 4A game against Bloomington North, West Vigo hosts a 7 p.m. Class 3A regional game against North Harrison and Shakamak has a 7 p.m. Class A regional game at home against Vincennes Rivet. Rockville travels to Chalmers — just north of Lafayette on Indiana 43 — for a 6 p.m. Class A game against Frontier.
South-Bloomington North is a rematch of a regional game a year ago at Bloomington, in which the Cougars jumped out to a quick lead and held on for a 7-4 win in a thrilling game that ended with South having the lead run at the plate. Neither the 14-17 Braves or the 20-9 Cougars are have been quite as formidable this year, but coach Kyle Kraemer of the Braves is hoping his team’s sectional triumph gives it some kind of momentum.
“To try and give the kids some kind of spark to their regular season [which ended with seven losses in eight games], we said we’d win the sectional,” Kraemer said Monday, “and our seniors did a great job maintaining the focus that was necessary to do that.
“But as young a team as we are, we don’t really know what to expect from game to game.”
Bloomington North, Kraemer noted, has five returning position players and its starting pitcher from last year’s regional champions. The Cougars also have five left-handed batters, however, who will have to contend with South lefty A.J. Reed.
West Vigo isn’t quite as familiar with North Harrison, a team that will be making a trip almost from Louisville for the game.
“I hear they’ve got a heck of a left-handed pitcher, and that might slow us down a little bit [by holding runners on first base]; we’ve been helping ourselves with steals and hit-and-runs, but fortunately we also faced two left-handers in the sectional,” coach Steve DeGroote said Monday. “I also hear [the Cougars] have pretty good batters throughout their lineup.”
A solid lineup has also been a West Vigo staple, of course.
“[Having hitters] one through nine has been a plus for us,” DeGroote agreed. “We’ve actually been pretty good at everything [with outfield defense sparkling in sectional play].”
DeGroote and the 21-5 Vikings are just happy to be in a regional game, having beaten Edgewood for the first time in four sectional meetings to get there. And the way the Vikings won the sectional championship game was encouraging for their coach.
The Vikings got home from their semifinal win at about 2 a.m., with school the following day. Then they fell behind their sectional nemesis early in the championship game.
“A negative person’s head would have dropped [because of that sequence of events],” DeGroote said, “but these kids made [a victory] happen. It’s great experience for them knowing we can be that tough.”
Shakamak’s game tonight is the other rematch, and a more recent one. The 22-8 Lakers beat Vincennes Rivet 10-4 back on April 17 and expect to face the same pitcher.
“Both teams have improved since then,” coach Matt Fougerousse said, “and we know [the Patriots] will come in hungry.”
Fougerousse would probably be a little more confident if he knew his team was going to perform tonight like Shakamak teams have traditionally done in the past. The Lakers had a pair of real squeakers in sectional play against Clay City and North Central, and had to overcome their own mistakes with a seventh-inning rally to win the latter game.
“We have to come out and execute in the field,” he said. “Our pitching has to limit free passes, and we need to get timely hitting. Like just about every game.”
Bob Kyle indicated Monday he knows more than he’d like to about Frontier.
“I know they’re ranked No. 1 [in Class A], I know they’re 30-1, I know they have three or four guys batting over .500 and I know they have four players on the all-state ballot,” the Rockville coach said. “And they beat Lafayette Central Catholic twice, so I’m sure they’re just loaded.”
The Falcons play in one of the state’s smaller ballparks, but Kyle noted Monday that the 25-4 Rox should be used to that situation.
“No way could [Frontier’s park] be any shorter than the field we used to play on [before Gideon Field opened this year],” Kyle said. “But they have a pitcher who’s 10-0 with a 1.13 earned run average; if he has those stats pitching in that small park, he must be really good.
“Our strength all year has been pitching and hitting, so if we hit the baseball [we have a chance],” Kyle said. “But we’re preparing to play the best team in the state.”
TONIGHT
Class 4A
Bloomington North at Terre Haute South, 6 p.m.; winner plays Saturday at Evansville Semistate
Class 3A
North Harrison at West Vigo, 7 p.m.; winner plays Saturday at Jasper Semistate
Class A
Vincennes Rivet at Shakamak, 7 p.m.; winner plays Saturday at Perry Meridian Semistate
Rockville at Frontier, 6 p.m.; winner plays Saturday at Kokomo Semistate
High School
Wabash Valley's Final Four goes to work tonight
- High School
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South’s Lough to wrestle for state title
The day didn’t start in a promising fashion for Wabash Valley high school wrestlers at the Evansville Semistate in Ford Center on Saturday — but it got better as it went along.
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TERRE HAUTE NORTH SECTIONAL: Mooresville tops South for fourth straight title
For Terre Haute South High School girls basketball fans, it might sound good that the Braves did not miss a shot in the first four minutes of their Class 4A Terre Haute North Sectional championship game Saturday.
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BLOOMFIELD SECTIONAL: Sullivan rebounds from tough start for title
It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish.
Sullivan struggled mightily in the first half, eerily reminiscent of its eventual elimination in the final seconds of overtime by Edgewood in last year’s Class 3A girls basketball sectional. -
CLAY CITY SECTIONAL: Eels take third straight sectional crown
Clay City stood up to the pressure and to the Shakamak Lakers on Saturday night to win a third straight Class A sectional championship in the Eel Dome.
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NORTH VERMILLION SECTIONAL: Twenty years in the waiting
The Super Bowl came to a new city. A presidential election was ongoing. And Riverton Parke won a girls basketball sectional.
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PREP ROUNDUP: Rox clinch WRC
Class A No. 8-ranked Rockville knocked off Attica 50-35 in boys high school basketball Saturday afternoon, clinching the Wabash River Conference championship in the process.
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THN SECTIONAL: Braves to play Mooresville for sectional title tonight
Terre Haute South continued to show what’s new and Terre Haute North unfortunately reverted back to what’s old in Class 4A high school girls basketball sectional action Friday night at North.
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OWEN VALLEY SECTIONAL: Eagles bring Vikes down to earth
Baby steps. A baby takes that first step and grins, then attempts the second step and tumbles. The West Vigo High School girls took their first step with a victory Tuesday night in the Class 3A basketball sectional at Owen Valley.
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BLOOMFIELD SECTIONAL: Sullivan jumps to early lead in sectional victory
Sullivan jumped out to a 9-0 lead and were never threatened in a dominant 48-25 win over Eastern Greene in a semifinal game of the Class 2A Bloomfield girls basketball sectional inside Glover Gymnasium on Friday.
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North Vermillion Sectional: Panthers, Falcons to meet for NV title
Outstanding defense and quality passing landed Riverton Parke in the championship game of the Class A North Vermillion Sectional. The Panthers will have to get through the host school tonight in order to secure the program’s first sectional crown since 1992.
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South swimmers don’t advance at Finals
Terre Haute South’s trip to the IHSAA girls swimming state finals at the Indiana University Natatorium was a short one Friday night.
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South runs into talented North Central team
Terre Haute South players and coaches knew when they got off the bus Saturday afternoon that they couldn’t run with the Class 4A No. 3-ranked Indianapolis North Central Panthers.
But they tried anyway. -
BASKETBALL ROUNDUP: Duncan’s OT free throws help Marshall down H-P
Jacob Duncan hit four free throws in overtime Friday night as visiting Marshall defeated Hutsonville-Palestine 51-49 in Little Illini Conference action.
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O'Leary pours in career-high 34 for Terre Haute North
Matt O’Leary poured in a career-high 34 points, 17 in each half, to lead Terre Haute North to a dominant 69-46 home victory over Center Grove in Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference boys high school basketball Saturday afternoon.
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Davis hits layup in double overtime to lift Terre Haute North at Bloomington North
Playing without their two leading scorers against a team that — most of the time — seemed more determined to win than they did, Terre Haute North's Patriots got a driving layup from Steven Davis with 2.8 seconds left in the second overtime to escape Bloomington North with a 54-52 win in high school basketball Thursday night.
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Sullivan stays on top of WIC for third straight year
Western Indiana Conference boys basketball teams have been trying to storm the Sullivan castle for three years now. The Golden Arrows have endured nearly every kind of strategy in the effort to breech their wall. West Vigo tried a few more on Thursday in a showdown for the WIC championship.
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South girls looking for solid performances at swimming state finals
One individual and one relay team, which includes that same individual, will represent Terre Haute South in the IHSAA girls swimming state finals today and possibly Saturday at the Indiana University Natatorium in Indianapolis.
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PREP ROUNDUP: Cesinger, Jones each score 24 in Clay City win
Blake Cesinger and Brylan Jones poured in 24 points apiece to lead visiting Clay City over North Central 67-53 in SouthWestern Indiana Athletic Conference boys high school basketball Thursday night.
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Teutopolis knocks off record-setting Marshall girls in regional championship
Marshall jumped ahead 4-0 only to watch Teutopolis score the next 11 points Thursday in the championship game of the Class 2A Teutopolis Regional.
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Sullivan wins battle in low post
Sullivan dominated the low block at both ends of the court Wednesday to defeat South Knox 43-30.
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State wrestling berths won't come easily
If high school wrestlers thought regional competition was tough last weekend, they can expect the competition, as Keegan Michael Key used to say on MADtv, taken to “a whole notha level” on Saturday.
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South pulls upset
Plainfield’s 16-5 record made the Quakers the team to beat in the Class 4A Terre Haute North Sectional.
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Vikings break long sectional drought
You’ll have to forgive West Vigo for celebrating just a wee bit prior to the postgame handshake with South Vermillion, but its first victory in a sectional game in 11 years was worthy of celebrating.
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PREP ROUNDUP: RP rolls past Attica
Riverton Parke jumped to a 20-point halftime lead and easily defeated Attica 59-34 in the Class A North Vermillion girls basketball sectional on Tuesday.
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They’re the pride of Marshall
With a 24-1 record, coach Kathy Miller’s Marshall team earned the top seed in the Class 2A Teutopolis Regional.
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Union season more fun with Talpas around
The Union boys basketball team has had its share of fun moments in the past, arguably the most fun being its Class A state runner-up in 2000.
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Injury bug follows girls into postseason
Who’s healthy is the question at least three of the four teams will be asking tonight when Class 4A girls high school basketball sectional play begins at Terre Haute North.
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Rockville needs late run to stop West Vigo
It was a game of fits and starts, but host Rockville finally overcame a stiff challenge from visiting West Vigo in a 53-46 victory in boys high basketball action on Saturday.
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Northview holds off Plainfield
Northview got its sixth victory in boys high school basketball action Saturday night, defeating Plainfield 59-56.
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PREP ROUNDUP: Cloverdale helps Rady to career win No. 714
Brandon Dorman and Joe Fidler combined for 37 points and six 3-pointers Saturday night as visiting Cloverdale defeated Turkey Run 63-45 in boys high school basketball.
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