By KEVIN HARRIS
In the past two years, the Henryville softball team has been on the brink of winning a Class A regional championship.
However, the Hornets have fallen short of that goal each time. In 2007, they lost 6-1 to Jac-Cen-Del in the Hauser Regional final, followed by a 5-0 setback to Tecumseh in last year’s North Daviess Regional championship.
On Saturday, Henryville hopes the third time will be the charm in capturing its first-ever regional crown.
The Hornets (24-4) will return to North Daviess for a 1 p.m. rematch against Tecumseh (25-4-1) in the second semifinal. The first semifinal will pit the host Cougars (14-9) against Springs Valley (11-8) at 11 a.m. The championship will be at 7 p.m.
“We’ve been motivated all year long,” Henryville sophomore Ashley Dickerson said. “Now, we know that we have to be on top of our game. We’re pretty ready because we want to win this year.”
The Braves enters the regional as the favorite. The two-time defending Class A state runner-up finished as the top-ranked team in the final Class A coaches poll.
But Henryville coach Jenny Odle refuses to dub her team an underdog going into the contest.
“Statistically speaking, everybody would say we’re the underdog,” said Odle, whose squad finished the regular season fifth in the coaches poll. “It’s hard to call us an underdog because we feel like we are expected to win and we should be expected to win. We have good pitching, we have good defense. When our offense is on, it’s very good.
“I hate calling us an underdog, but I guess we’re seen as that. We’re confident, we know we can do it. Everything just has to be there.”
The Hornets will face an old nemesis on Saturday in Tecumseh pitcher Audra Sanders. In last season’s regional final, the senior tossed a one-hitter, allowing no walks and two baserunners. She struck out 12.
Odle says the Hornets must make Sanders and the Braves earn the win this time around.
“We have to put the ball in play,” the third-year coach said. “We have to make Tecumseh’s defense work. When you have pitching that’s that strong, a lot of times your defense hasn’t had the experience that we’ve had or other teams have.
“We have to make them win the game. We can’t hand it over to them by not hitting the ball or making errors. Last year, we had five errors and they had three unearned runs. And last year, we had 12 strikeouts and you can’t have 12 strikeouts and expect to win.”
Sanders is having another unbelievable season.
She threw her 23rd career no-hitter, the third-most in state history, in last Friday’s Wood Memorial Sectional final victory against Northeast Dubois. The Ball State recruit also is 10 strikeouts shy of setting Indiana’s all-time strikeout record. Sanders currently has 1,229 career strikeouts.
“It’s nice that we’ve faced her before, but she’s tough,” Odle said. “She’s going to be pitching her riseball, her change-up and her curve. She can do a lot of damage with her pitches.”
Henryville senior catcher Kelcey Pierce says hitting against Sanders has been a point of emphasis leading up to the regional.
“She’s a Division I pitcher, so we have to learn how to hit at a faster speed and her riseball,” Pierce said. “Last year when we played Tecumseh, (offense) was our biggest issue. We had one hit the whole game, and (offense) is going to help us win.”
Henryville pitcher Amanda Embry is not too shabby either, sporting a 19-4 record. The junior got the loss in last year’s setback to the Braves, yielding seven hits.
To prepare for pitchers like Sanders and teams like Tecumseh in the state tournament, the Hornets toughened their schedule this season, adding bigger schools like New Albany, Castle, Jasper and Louisville Manual. Plus they faced Floyd Central, this year’s Hoosier Hills Conference and Class 4A Jennings County Sectional champion, for the third straight year.
“Your ultimate goal is to win sectional, to win regional and to make it to state,” Odle said. “That’s everybody’s ultimate goal, so to achieve that you’ve got to play teams of that caliber. You’ve got to see how you do and you’ve got to go back and do the things that went wrong.”
Pierce says this season’s difficult slate has been a huge factor in her team’s growth.
“It’s helped us in facing better hitting teams and better pitching teams,” Pierce said. “It’s gotten us ready.”
If the Hornets capture the regional crown, they will become the first Henryville team in any sport to reach the IHSAA State Finals.
If that happens, Dickerson says it will be a special accomplishment.
“It would be the best because we’ve never been there before,” Dickerson said. “To do it for the first time in school history would be really, really good. It would make us all feel really special. It would be nice just to get there. It would be a dream come true.”
