By Andy Amey
INDIANAPOLIS — Sayings in sports become cliches for a reason, so there’s probably one to explain Linton’s 1-0 loss to Madison-Grant in the Class 2A high school softball state championship game Saturday at Ben Davis.
Let’s see, how about “game of inches?”
The cliche could have come up in the top of the fourth inning, when Jenica Ringo’s bunt trickled foul near first base after Ringo had already crossed the bag and courtesy runner Jannae Jackson had already gone from first all the way to third; in the top of the seventh, when Savannah Mason’s smash down the first-base line went just foul instead of off the bag for an extra-base hit; and certainly in the top of the first, when Stephanie Fougerousse launched a drive over a schoolbus parked behind some bleachers down the left-field line.
Not to mention the diving catch by Madison-Grant’s Kendra Stitt to end the top of the second and prevent Sam Butt from getting a two-run single, or the leaping, game-ending catch by shortstop Sam Fields on a potential hit by Darien Huffman — with Fougerousse on deck.
So the Miners went scoreless, stranding eight baserunners, despite not being as impressed with pitcher Sara Webster of the Argylls as they had been in Wheeler’s Lanay Parks, against whom they scored five runs a night earlier.
“It’s real frustrating … knowing we were that close,” said Miner senior Izzy Carpenter, the only player in the game with more than one hit and the only one with an extra-base blow. “We were hitting the ball right to [the Argylls].”
“We definitely had our chances … in about every inning,” coach Jill Flater agreed.
Linton batters were swinging defensively against Parks early in Friday’s semifinal game. On Saturday, they were on Webster right away, starting with a line drive foul down the left-field line by Savannah Mason on the game’s first pitch. Linton fans no doubt figured an offensive explosion would come eventually.
“We did too,” Mason said after the game. “And we’ve, as a team, always come in toward the end of the game and started hitting. Tonight we just couldn’t get it going.”
“[The Miners] were confident against [Webster],” Flater said.
That confidence got more of a boost two batters later. With two out and none on, Fougerousse came very close to putting her team ahead with her spectacular foul.
“Inches,” said Flater after the game when asked about the margin, although she said she too thought it was a foul ball. “That would definitely have been huge [if it had been a home run]. Being the first team to score is something we’ve talked about all year long, and we were excited about being the visiting team [and getting to bat first].”
Courtesy runner Brittany Rehmel was stranded after Fougerousse settled for a hard single, but the Miners were in business immediately in the second. Carpenter led off with a smash off the first baseman’s glove for a single, Hali Murray popped a bunt past Webster for another hit, and Ringo’s sacrifice put both runners in scoring position with one out. Webster escaped the jam thanks to a popup and Stitt’s diving catch.
Linton had baserunners in the third and fourth thanks to a pair of walks, and in the top of the fifth Butt drew a leadoff walk and Huffman got a bunt single one out later. But Webster was able to retire Fougerousse on a grounder to the right side that advanced both runners, and again both were left in scoring position.
In the circle, Fougerousse had allowed a bunt single in the first and hit a batter in the second. Sam Yeagy’s leadoff single in the fourth was the first well hit ball by the Argylls, but Fougerousse got out of the inning helped by a double play started by Mason.
In the bottom of the fifth, however, a leadoff walk and a sacrifice blossomed into a run when Shelby Wells, Madison-Grant’s No. 8 hitter, got a single up the middle. The Argylls’ first real threat nearly blossomed into more when the next two batters got infield hits, but Fougerousse escaped that jam and pitched around another leadoff walk and sacrifice in the sixth.
“We thought we could definitely come back,” Carpenter said after the game, and did her part in that effort with a leadoff double to the left-center gap in the top of the sixth. But Webster retired the last six batters, with the help of a big stop by third baseman Yeagy on Ringo’s smash in the sixth and Fields’ catch in the seventh.
“I know we had a great season,” Mason said after the game, “but … this is not the way I wanted it to end.”
But being the first Miner team to play a state championship game gives the Miners two sports traditions, the girls figure.
“This team has done something no other [Linton] team has done,” Flater said. “It’s been a pretty amazing journey.”
“We’ll definitely have a lot more [softball] fans,” Mason predicted (although the Miner fans were loud and out in force on Saturday). “The football team [and its tradition] led us here, and we’re going to finish it.”
“This has definitely made us known,” Carpenter agreed. “We made our mark in history. If people didn’t know about our program … now they know.”
With Carpenter, Rehmel, Taneal Church and Cortney Astleford the team’s only seniors, motivation for next season shouldn’t be hard to find either.
“At midseason we could tell the girls were starting to gel,” Flater said. “They bought into everything we told them … which is why we’re at this level.
“Next year’s seniors and Miner softball team will have to pick up where this [team] left off, and hopefully we’ll have another amazing journey.”
“We’re already excited for next year. We’re ready,” Mason promised.
