The Logansport softball team wanted a matchup with Class 4A No. 10 Fishers to see how they stacked up.
The answer was pretty well, especially considering they were down a couple starters.
Fishers edged Logansport 3-2 in the championship game of the Ron Kinnaman Classic on Saturday at Fincher Field.
Rain caused the tournament to be rescheduled since the dirt field next to Fincher Field was too soggy to play on. But the Berries (7-1) still got their desired matchup against the Class 4A powerhouse Tigers (8-3) from Hamilton County.
Logansport freshman Gracie Risley showed she is indeed human as she gave up the first runs of her varsity career. But she was still good, holding Fishers to three runs on seven hits and one walk, striking out six in five innings. She was also hitting over .800 entering the game but went 0-for-2 with a pair of groundouts and a walk.
Senior Natalee Packard relieved and the Indiana Wesleyan recruit pitched two scoreless innings of relief, allowing two hits while striking out two.
“That team is top to bottom as good a team as we’re going to face all year. And Gracie and Natalee both battled on the mound,” Logansport coach Cory Cripe said.
As for Risley allowing a run, Cripe said, “She’ll be fine. This is different. You’re a freshman and you’re playing against 18-year-old women in some cases, and there’s a big difference between a freshman and these girls from Fishers. If you looked out there, these girls are big and strong and they’re fully developed women that are playing the game of softball and they hit the ball hard and Gracie did a great job of competing against them and holding them to three runs.”
The Berries have another big-time softball talent, sophomore Brooklynn Hagerty, who was out with an injury. She pitched them past a top 10 Harrison team a year ago to win a sectional title. All-area shortstop Aracyn Good is also out with an injury which affects the depth of the lineup.
“Hagerty’s going to have an MRI next week and we’ll see,” Cripe said. “I got good news on Aracyn. It looks like she’s healing up well according to the doctor. So hopefully we get her back in a couple weeks and hopefully it’s just a little bit of rest with Brooklynn and we get two more bullets back to a team that just took the No. 10 team in 4A to the mat here.
“So we do a good job of competing and that’s the thing that I like most about this team is we compete and we understand effort and energy is what we can control.”
The Berries struck first in the bottom of the first inning. Kellyn Cripe was hit by a pitch and Risley drew a walk to put the first two batters on base. Following a strikeout, Packard hit into a fielder’s choice groundout for the second out. Adrienne Scott hit an RBI single up the middle to score Cripe to make it a 1-0 game.
Risley worked three scoreless frames before running into some trouble in the fourth. Hailey Kinder doubled off the fence to lead off the inning. Risley retired the next two batters before Adrianne Cook hit one over the fence in center to give the Tigers a 2-1 lead. The next three hitters got on base with a double, walk and error, but Risley stranded the bases loaded with a strikeout.
But Fishers wasn’t done. Kinder hit a one-out single in the fifth, followed by a single by Kendall Jordan. Kate Murray followed with a double that scored Kinder but Jordan was called out on the play at home as it was deemed she ran outside the baseline when she avoided a tag by catcher Bella Nicoles. The throw was in plenty of time to get Jordan, who sidestepped Nicoles but went too far inside the baseline according to the rulebook. But the Tigers had a 3-1 lead. Risley got a groundout to get out of the inning.
Nicoles roped a double to left center with one out in the sixth. Packard followed with an RBI single to left to make it 3-2. Scott singled to left to put the tying run at second. But Murray dialed back-to-back strikeouts to end the threat. She then got three straight groundouts in the seventh to end the game.
Murray, a Butler softball commit, gave up two runs on five hits and one walk with 10 strikeouts.
Nicoles and Scott had two hits apiece to lead the Logansport offense.
“Bella Nicoles has been working on some stuff and she had two hits in the second game and that last one was just a rope,” Cripe said. “She wasn’t happy with herself the first game. So what’d she do? Between games, she went and hit in a cage. That’s the kind of kids we have. The first game it was Kellyn and Gracie and Adrienne, they come through with big hits. And then second game, here’s Adrienne and Natalee and Bella. So it’s good to see other kids, and you throw Mady [Baumgardner] in there who had a big hit first game. So we’re getting hits and we’re getting timely hitting from different parts of the order and that’s good.”
In the other games of the day, Logan beat Lowell 5-2 and Fishers beat Lowell 16-1.
Packard got the win against Lowell (2-4), allowing two runs on five hits with five strikeouts in five innings. Risley had a two-inning save, allowing just one walk while striking out five.
Risley hit a home run and had two RBIs. Cripe had a triple, double and two runs scored. Baumgardner had a double and two RBIs. Packard had a double and RBI.
