INDIANAPOLIS — Ask 100 people in Linton to tell you the sport in which the Miners will win their first Indiana high school state championship, and probably about 99 of them will say football.
That number would not include Jill Flater and her Miner softball team, of course, which will play for the Class 2A championship at 1:30 p.m. today at Ben Davis — thanks to a display of toughness that would do the football team proud.
The Miners’ 5-2 semifinal win Friday night over Wheeler was looking like a sure thing for awhile. After knocking on the door for four innings against Bearcat ace pitcher Lanay Parks — who had given up just one earned run the entire season — Linton exploded for five two-out runs in the top of the fifth.
Since Linton pitcher Stephanie Fougerousse was working on a perfect game at the time, the last two and one-half innings were easy, right?
Well, that’s where the toughness came in.
Fougerousse walked Parks to lead off the bottom of the fifth inning, the first Wheeler baserunner. Then came an opposite-field hit, a sacrifice bunt, a two-out walk and a two-run infield single by ninth batter Meghan Zappia. Wheeler’s leadoff batter Kylie Planck, whose .433 batting average was the best on both teams, was at the plate representing the tying run — and the pitches were piling up for Fougerousse.
Planck finally hit the ball back to Fougerousse, who made a back-hand stop and threw to Izzy Carpenter at first base just in time to retire Planck and just ahead of a collision between her and Carpenter.
But as the Miners batted in the top of the sixth, Fougerousse was in tears — which Greene County sports fans know means one thing: back spasms.
“The longer I’m up pitching, the more [the spasms] are going to happen,” she said after the game, bemoaning the two walks that lengthened the inning. “It comes and goes — but when it starts spasming it’s horrible.”
Flater said after Fougerousse made her way wincing through the last two innings that a relief pitcher probably wasn’t an option.
“Not really too seriously,” the coach said when asked if such a thing had been considered. “She’s determined; there’s no way she was coming out.”
“She still throws hard [when her back hurts],” said Linton catcher Hali Murray, “but it’s a little more of a struggle hitting her spots. But she always comes out [to the circle] for us. Always.”
Third baseman Jenica Ringo might have been the relief pitcher in question.
“That thought was going through my head,” Ringo admitted afterward, “and I thought, ‘Oh crap, I didn’t warm up [to pitch].’ But I knew Stephanie would come through it. She’s a fighter.”
The Miners did some fighting offensively too. They had baserunners in each of the first four innings, and wasted a two-hit, two-walk third frame thanks to an out recorded when a Miner stepped off base — third base, in fact — with Parks in possession of the ball in the circle.
Darien Huffman singled with one out in the fifth, and Fougerousse followed with a shot up the middle; when the hit was misplayed in the outfield, the Miners had runners at second and third.
Parks got the second out with a strikeout, then walked Carpenter to load the bases. Murray, with a hit earlier in the game, worked her way to a full count even though the Wheeler players asked to appeal her checked swing on each of the three balls.
“I was trying not to think,” Murray said later in recalling that time at bat. “That’s what my dad says, ‘Just go up there and hit the ball.’”
Murray — and the first-base umpire — thought she’d checked her swing all three times, but she admitted, “That was scary, looking at that ump out there.”
The full-count pitch was on the inside corner, and Murray was looking outside. But she hit the ball off the handle over the shortstop’s head for a two-run single.
“I got lucky; [Parks] had me tricked,” Murray said.
Ringo followed, and grounded a single through the right side for two more runs. “It felt pretty good,” she said later. “At first [tonight] I struggled, but it helped when Hali opened it up. I told myself I could do it.”
“It doesn’t matter where we start in the lineup, or in what inning,” said Flater, whose team completed its rally with a run-scoring single by Katie West. “We knew [Parks] was a good pitcher, but we see a good pitcher of our own every single day. [The Miners] were ready to go tonight.”
“That helps a bunch [seeing Fougerousse in batting practice],” Murray agreed.
As the Miners prepare for today’s championship game, feverish work will be done to get Fougerousse as close to 100 percent as possible.
“I always deal with [the pain],” the pitcher said. “It’s always there ... I’ll ice it all night, and pray to God it’s not spasming [today].”
“She’ll be ready to go,” Flater predicted. “She’ll fight through it.
“These girls came here with one thought in mind, and they’re going to get the job done.”
“This has been a dream,” said Ringo. “I’ve played with most of [the Miners] since I was a little girl. It’s really exciting. I’m ecstatic.”
Linton 5, Wheeler 2
Linton ab r h bi Wheeler ab r h bi
Mason 2b 3 0 1 0 Planck 3b 3 0 0 0
Huffman cf 3 1 1 0 Marcotte lf 3 0 0 0
Fougerousse p 3 1 1 0 Medina ss 3 0 0 0
Church lf 3 0 0 0 Parks p 1 1 0 0
Carpenter 1b 3 1 0 0 Fraley cf 3 1 1 0
Murray c 4 1 2 2 Farlow 1b 2 0 0 0
Ringo 3b 3 1 1 2 Simatovich 2b 3 0 0 0
West rf 2 0 1 1 Herzog c 2 0 0 0
Butt ss 3 0 1 0 Zappia rf 3 0 1 2
Totals 27 5 8 5 Totals 23 2 2 2
Linton 000 050 0 -- 5
Wheeler 000 020 0 -- 2
E -- Fraley, Marcotte, Farlow, Murray. LOB -- Linton 7, Wheeler 4. 2B -- Butt. SB -- Jackson (Linton courtesy runner). SH -- Huffman, Farlow.
IP H R ER BB SO
Linton
Fougerousse (W, 17-1) 7 2 2 2 3 9
Wheeler
Parks (L, 20-2) 7 8 5 4 4 12
HBP -- by Parks (Mason). T -- 1:48.
Next -- Linton (21-5) plays Madison-Grant (24-6) at 1:30 p.m. today at Ben Davis for the Class 2A state championship. Wheeler finished 27-3.
High School
Linton softball meets Madison-Grant today for Class 2A trophy
- High School
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It’s a rivalry-filled Memorial Day for sectional contenders
Longtime rivalries figure to determine high school baseball sectional champions throughout the Wabash Valley today, with semifinal and final games scheduled at four sites and a stand-alone championship game at a fifth.
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South tops Oldenburg to win tennis semistate
There was no evidence of rally caps, rally towels and certainly no rally squirrels, but Terre Haute South’s No. 1 singles player Maddie Kesler needed a rally in the worst way.
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New route leads to same place for South girls tennis
For so many years, the road to the IHSAA girls tennis state finals for local teams ran through Vincennes (regional) and Jasper (semistate). In other words, south and more south.
This year, their trip was re-routed through Greencastle (regional) and Center Grove (semistate). So it cnahged to east and more east. -
PREP ROUNDUP: Robinson tops Greenville in sectional semifinal
Robinson jumped to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning, then cruised to a convincing 12-3 victory over Greenville in a IHSA Class 2A Vandalia sectional semifinal game on Thursday.
Ashlyn Sullivan was 2 for 3 with a double, home run and three RBIs to lead the winning Maroons. -
West Vigo baseball falls in sectional to Owen Valley
West Vigo overcame the odds to win 20 high school baseball games this season with a lineup that often included four freshmen and few seniors.
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South Vermillion softball's late-season surge comes to end
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The loss was just the second in the last 12 games for the Wildcats. The Mustangs, however, haven’t lost a sectional softball game for eight years in a row. -
South takes second, North third at boys track regional
Terre Haute South finished second and Terre Haute North third on Thursday night at the boys track and field regional at Evansville Central, with 11 individuals and three relay teams qualifying for the state finals June 2.
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PREP ROUNDUP: White River Valley baseball holds off Eminence
Three Eminence errors in the top of the sixth inning finally enabled White River Valley to score in high school baseball Thursday night, and the Wolverines went on to a 5-0 win in Class A Shakamak Sectional action.
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Feeling cursed: South bitten in sectional final again
Terre Haute South softball is not even close to being as cursed as a certain northside baseball team in Chicago, but it might just seem like it.
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PREP ROUNDUP: Mundy, Porter, Knight individual regional winners
Chanli Mundy and Keirra Porter of Terre Haute North were among the individual winners in the IHSAA Evansville Central girls track and field regional that ended late Tuesday night.
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Thornton puts away South Vermillion
Cody Thornton’s three-run blast over the left-field fence was the finishing touch to West Vigo’s 10-3 victory over South Vermillion in the opening game of the Class 3A Greencastle Sectional on Wednesday.
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Lakers triumph, go home for regional
Shakamak took Class A Clay City Sectional honors in high school softball for the first time since 2009 Wednesday, defeating White River Valley 9-5 in the title tilt.
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North Vermillion avenges losses
North Vermillion avenged two high school softball losses during the regular season to win the Class A Riverton Parke Sectional championship Wednesday with a 3-2 triumph over the host Panthers.
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Pats, Knights will meet in sectional
Adler Ingalsbe pooh-poohed his lack of velocity Wednesday night, yet the Terre Haute North pitcher was throwing BBs in the first game compared to Mooresville’s Brandon Topie in the nightcap.
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South outbattles Northview to reach sectional final
Even the best of high school softball pitchers can’t keep all the batters in the middle of Terre Haute South’s lineup down.
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Panthers get 20th win in sectional
Riverton Parke will face North Vermillion in the Class A softball sectional championship at Riverton Parke today, with action commencing at 6 p.m.
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Plainfield Sectional all about parity
Considering Terre Haute South has won five consecutive Class 4A sectional titles in high school baseball, naming the Braves as favorites to capture the 2012 Class 4A Plainfield Sectional would not seem far-fetched.
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PREP ROUNDUP: North Vermillion in title game
Casey West had a triple and three runs scored to help North Vermillion softball advance to the championship game of the Class A Riverton Parke Sectional on Tuesday.
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North takes second in track regional
Terre Haute North finished second with 74 points, six behind team champion Evansville Reitz, during the Evansville Central girls track and field regional that ended late Tuesday night.
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Wildcats advance to sectional softball final; West Vigo falls
Patience, patience.
South Vermillion exhibited great patience, being very selective at the plate and it paid off royally in the fourth inning. -
South, Crawfordsville win in regional tennis semis
Terre Haute South outlasted Fountain Central 4-1 in the first round of the girls high school tennis regional Tuesday, advancing the Braves into today’s championship match against Crawfordsville.
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Braves, Knights open with wins
It was an excellent night for starting softball pitchers to help their own cause Monday night in the Class 4A Northview Sectional.
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Lough dreamt about McMillan
A two-time state finalist in wrestling and a two-time all-Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference football player and wrestler, Tsali Lough of Terre Haute South was named the male recipient of the 2012 McMillan Award on Monday night at South’s Senior Awards Night.
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PREP ROUNDUP: Panthers cruise in sectional opener
Sarah Burnham pitched a two-hit shutout with 10 strikeouts in high school softball Monday evening as host Riverton Parke defeated defending champion Rockville 10-0 in opening-round action at the Class A Riverton Parke Sectional.
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Notable tradition bodes well for Riverton Parke
Located practically in the shadow of a high school that sets one state standard in track and field, Riverton Parke has a tendency to be overlooked in that sport.
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Vikings get 18th win over Shakamak
West Vigo began a busy week of high school baseball Monday on a winning note, defeating Shakamak 6-3.
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Greencastle new site for girls tennis regional
The starting times might prove to be a bone of contention, but otherwise coaches Bill Blankenbaker and Emily Goff are thrilled their respective girls high school tennis teams will begin play today at the Greencastle Regional.
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Northview sectional groups 3 20-win teams
Three teams with 20-plus victories will attempt to claim the Class 4A Northview Sectional crown for high school softball this week, and most of the other Wabash Valley sectional fields also appear to be wide open.
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Terre Haute South softball takes Riverton Parke tournament
Terre Haute South is going into the Class 4A Sectional at Northview on Monday with momentum, confidence, a deep bench and a healthier pitching staff than it has had in quite a while.
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North baseball splits doubleheader with Indy North Central
Some of their incentive could have been sapped a couple of nights earlier, when Center Grove achieved an eight-inning victory over Warren Central to clinch the Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference high school baseball championship.
- More High School Headlines
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