Coach David Brown’s Rising Sun Lady Shiners made it five straight softball sectional titles with a tough 4-0 win over Jac-Cen-Del in the Class A Sectional 60 final on Thursday, May 28th at Rising Sun.
Senior Alix DeDreu earned her fourth sectional title with 13 strikeouts and allowing just three JCD hits.
DeDreu, the leadoff batter, opened the scoring with a first inning single and advanced on a passed ball. She scored on an RBI single by batterymate Bailee Bostic for a 1-0 lead, as the Shiners were visitors in the IHSAA pairings.
Rising Sun loaded the bases in the second but a pop up double play kept the Shiners off the board.
The Ohio River Valley Conference foe Lady Eagles stayed in the game with a strong pitching performance by Morgen Carroll, who struck out five in the first three innings.
However, Jacqueline Stapleton opened the fifth with a bloop single just fair to left. DeDreu then reached on a single and error before Kyla Willhite pounded an RBI double, then scored on a sacrifice fly by Tiffany Vinup for a 4-0 lead.
JCD put two on in the bottom of the seventh, including a second by shortstop Haley Bruns, before DeDreu buckled down to strike out two of the final three to save the shutout and third win of the season over JCD.
Tourney MVP DeDreu was 3-for-4 with two runs scored. Willhite was 3-for-4 with a run and RBI as well as a key 10 plus pitch at bat that ended in a third inning single.
Bostic and senior classmate Haley Presley added hits; as did Alexis Davis and Vinup.
Big win opens Sectional
The Rising Sun Lady Shiners opened defense of their sectional title with a 17-2 win over Oldenburg Academy on Wednesday (following a second round rain delay).
The Lady Shiners sent 15 players to the plate in the first and scored 11 runs in coasting to the win.
Alix DeDreu led the way with 4-for-4 including a triple, home run and five RBI. Oldenburg pitched four innings allowing two runs on one hit while striking out seven.
Tiffany Vinup came in to pitch the final inning. She was 2-for-3 at the plate with a pair of doubles and three RBI. Senior Haley Presley had a pair of doubles and four RBI with Kyla Willhite was 3-for-4 including a pair of doubles and an RBI.
Baylie Hunter added a double with Alexis Davis rounding out the 13 hit attack. Bailee Bostic and Jacqueline Stapleton walked and scored twice while Claire Poling reached base three times with an RBI.
A trio of Shiner errors led to the two Oldenburg runs in the fourth inning.
Jac-Cen-Del advanced to the finals with wins over South Decatur (5-0) and Shawe (13-0).
All Tourney Team
MVP: Alix DeDreu: Rising Sun
Kyla Willhite: Rising Sun
Hayley Presley: Rising Sun
Tiffany Vinup: Rising Sun
Baylie Hunter: Rising Sun
Hayley Bruns: Jac-Cen-Del
Morgen Carroll: Jac-Cen-Del
Jackie Menchhofer: Jac-Cen-Del
Kayla Bowling: Jac-Cen-Del