COLUMBUS – Kylee Edwards came to pick a fight – and she brought some hungry Golden Bears with her to the Sectional 14 championship game.
The defending sectional champions had not had much success against Columbus North ace Maddi Rutan over the last three seasons. So Edwards did not want to waste time making a statement Friday and whacked the first pitch of the game off the fence for a leadoff double.
Addie Stieneker quickly delivered the senior home, one of three RBIs the sophomore would collect in the game. Hailey Pogue attacked a fifth-inning pitch from Rutan and sent it to the wall that scored two more and Shelbyville captured the program’s fourth sectional championship, 5-2 over the No. 2-ranked Bull Dogs.
The Golden Bears (20-8) will travel to Class 4A, No. 9 Mooresville (28-3-1) Tuesday for the regional championship. First pitch is set for 7 p.m.
Edwards played with a heavy heart all week. Her grandfather passed away Sunday. Two days later she belted her 15th home run to help Shelbyville to a 2-0 win over East Central in the sectional opener. On Thursday, she had two hits and a walk, scored two runs and drove in two in an 8-3 win over Franklin.
She wasted little time getting to work Friday.
“As the leadoff batter I was attacking,” explained Edwards. “Starting the game, I knew she was going to throw me a strike first pitch to start off in a good way so I knew I was going to attack it. In my other at bats I had that same mindset. I was going to get to her before she got to me.”
Edwards tripled in the third inning on the first pitch from Rutan and after getting up in the count 3-0 in the fifth was intentionally walked. She added a double in the seventh inning and was part of a devastating trio of hitters at the top of Shelbyville’s lineup that went 7-for-10 with four extra-base hits, four runs scored and all five RBIs.
“Those first three hitters we have in the lineup, when they go we are hard to beat,” said Shelbyville head coach Mark Hensley. “Those are three of the best hitters in the state that we go back-to-back-to back with. They make a lot of chaos and make a lot of issues for people.”
While the top three did the discernible damage, the entire lineup put pressure on Rutan. The leadoff hitter reached in all seven innings.
“To do it against a pitcher like that … as far as I’m concerned she is a top-10 in the country type of player,” said Hensley of the Eastern Kentucky commit. “When you are a pitcher like that you can win every single day. You have a shot.”
The same can be said of Shelbyville pitcher Cheyenne Eads. The junior limited Columbus North (25-2-1) to just five hits, two walks and notched 10 strikeouts.
“That’s the difference, too,” said Hensley. “When ‘Chey’ is on and she is working her pitches, she is as good as anybody in the state. I think some people have kind of missed the boat on that but if you look out there and she is five-foot-four and about 130 pounds, some people don’t realize just how good she is. I’ve been screaming it from the rooftops for three years now to realize how good she is. Some of these colleges have been slow to the party with her but whoever pulls the trigger on that one is going to get a good one.”
The Bull Dogs quickly tied the game in the bottom of the first inning when Rutan doubled to score Kelsey Lovelace.
Both teams were held scoreless until the fifth.
Kali Laycock led off the inning with her second hit of the game. Edwards drew a one-out walk and Pogue laced the first pitch she saw past Columbus North second baseman Josephine Lemmons into the gap. Both runners scored to give Shelbyville a 3-1 advantage.
Stieneker brought Pogue home for her second RBI of the game.
Kaylee Cowan blasted a solo home run in the bottom half of the inning to cut the lead to 4-2.
Edwards doubled to start the seventh and scored on another Stieneker single to get Shelbyville within three outs of the title.
Miley McClellan started the final half inning with a single and Cowan ripped an Eads pitch into left field but Riley Maulden got a quick jump and made a diving catch to quell any momentum for Columbus North.
“I think that’s the best high school outfield catch I’ve ever seen,” said Hensley.
Eads struck out pinch hitter Bailee Scruggs and, fittingly, got Lemmons to roll a grounder at Edwards. The shortstop gobbled it up and fired it across the diamond to set off the celebration.
The sectional champions show appreciation to the large crowd in attendance Friday in Columbus.
“We all worked together really well. We all wanted this game so bad,” said Edwards. “You could tell on the field because our energy was up. Everybody was communicating. We were talking strategy the whole time. Our energy was way higher than theirs and I think that got us the win this game.”
Edwards and her family laid Pat Settles to rest today after she went 6-for-9 in the sectional with five extra-base hits, six runs scored and three RBIs.
“We have a lot going on with my grandpa,” admitted Edwards. “I wanted to go out and do this for my parents and my family. I wouldn’t want this any other way. I think this is a great opportunity and I was playing for him.”
Notes: Columbus North entered the game ranked No. 2 in the state and No. 14 nationally by MaxPreps. The Bull Dogs tied the program record for wins in a season. … Columbus North head coach Ron McDonald is retiring after building the program up since 2017. … Prior to the game, each Shelbyville player presented a rose to Mindy Edwards, daughter of Pat Settles. … With the win over Columbus North, Shelbyville is set up for a “revenge tour.” After losing 1-0 to Columbus North early in the season, the Golden Bears avenged that loss and now face Mooresville, who defeated Shelbyville 2-1 on May 6. The semistate bracket pairs the Shelbyville-Mooresville winner with the winner of the Lawrence North (22-7)-Pendleton Heights (23-5-1). HHC-member Pendleton Heights defeated the Golden Bears 4-3 on May 13. And the semistate championship game could yield a rematch with top-ranked and two-time defending state champion Roncalli, who topped Shelbyville 2-0 on May 9.
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