Hailey Pogue delivered a ninth-inning walk-off home run to propel Class 4A, No. 10 Shelbyville into the championship game of its own invitational, then pitched six solid innings to help the Golden Bears defeat 4A No. 6 Pendleton Heights.
Shelbyville improved to 16-4 this season with a pair of wins Saturday in the Golden Bear Invitational.
The Golden Bears struggled to get the offense in gear Saturday morning in a 5-4 win over Fishers. Addie Stieneker had three of Shelbyville’s six hits and drove in two runs but it was Pogue who produced the biggest hit – a three-run home run in the bottom of the ninth with her team trailing 4-2.
Cheyenne Eads improved to 9-3 this season, allowing four hits and five walks over all nine innings. She struck out six.
Fishers (7-13) scored single runs in the third and fourth innings and pushed two more runs across the plate in the top of the ninth inning.
Pendleton Heights (18-5) reached the championship game with a 1-0 victory over Guerin Catholic (6-10). Eliza Findlay twirled a two-hitter and struck out 10 to set the Arabians up for a second meeting with Shelbyville this season.
Shelbyville won 5-3 on April 11 in the two teams’ Hoosier Heritage Conference contest.
After Fishers shut out Guerin Catholic, 21-0, in the consolation game, Shelbyville’s offense came to life. The Golden Bears pounded out 17 hits off Pendleton Heights’ starting pitcher Shelby Messer.
Karissa Hamilton hit for the cycle for Shelbyville, delivering a single, double, triple and home run while driving in four runs.
Kylee Edwards had two doubles and a home run and also had four RBIs.
Shelbyville scored twice in the first inning and added five runs in the second to build a 7-1 lead. Four more runs in the fifth inning put the game out of reach.
Pogue improved to 3-1 in the pitcher’s circle. The junior allowed eight hits and one walk while striking out seven. Aliyah Lewis pitched a scoreless seventh inning.
In other prep events Saturday:
Baseball
Shelbyville 8, Eastern (Greene) 4
At Madison-Grant, Shelbyville used a three-run fourth inning to get the lead for good and Luke Brinkman tossed a complete game to advance the Golden Bears into the championship game of the Argylls Invitational.
Brinkman (2-1) allowed 10 hits and one walk but struck out six and limited the Class 2A, No. 2-ranked Comets to just three runs.
Levi Mavrick had four hits for Eastern (20-2).
Six different Golden Bears drove in runs to back Brinkman. Brock Kuhn had two RBIs.
In the other semifinal, Madison-Grant defeated Sheridan, 4-2.
The championship game was cancelled due to inclement weather.
Shelbyville travels to Warren Central (10-11) today.
Shelby County Tournament
Triton Central 11, Morristown 1
Southwestern 7, Waldron 4
At Southwestern, the championship game was set after semifinal wins by the Tigers (8-9) and Spartans (6-13). Now a date must be found for that meeting.
Triton Central scored three runs in each of the first two innings to take control against the Yellow Jackets (10-9).
Hayden May took care of the rest, allowing just two hits and three walks while striking out six to lead Triton Central into the championship game.
Dyllan Rutledge took the loss for Morristown.
May also had two hits, including a triple, and drove in two runs. Nick Riggins produced a pair of RBIs.
In the second semifinal, the Spartans pushed four runs across the plate in the third inning to build a 6-2 lead over Waldron (5-15), who never recovered.
Eli Sheppard had two hits to lead Waldron.
Jordan Jones earned the win for Southwestern. Matthew Clements closed the game out to get the save.
Boys Golf
Hoosier Heritage Conference Tournament
At Players Club in Muncie, the Golden Bears finished sixth in the team standings.
Eli Baker led Shelbyville with an 83. Jake Garrison was two shots back at 85. Nolen Chaney followed at 88.
Brock Wischmeyer (90) and DaMiles McDuffey (93) completed Shelbyville’s scorecard.
Yorktown was crowned HHC champion with a team score of 319. New Castle (321) was runner-up ahead of Mt. Vernon (323), Pendleton Heights (328), New Palestine 339, Shelbyville (346), Greenfield-Central (350) and Delta (361).
New Castle’s Derek Tabor shot a 2-under-par round of 70 to earn the HHC championship award.
Girls Tennis
Delta 5, Shelbyville 0
Shelbyville 4, New Castle 1
Played at Mt. Vernon, the Golden Bears closed out their HHC schedule at 2-5 this season.
The Eagles swept Shelbyville but the squad bounced back to defeat New Castle to sit at 9-11 as the sectional looms this week.
Shelbyville got singles victories from Jaidyn Tackett and Emma Sandman against the Trojans.
The Golden Bears also won both doubles matches.
