New Palestine’s Aglaia Rudd reacts after hitting a double against Plainfield on Friday, April 8, 2022.
Tom Russo | Daily Reporter
NEW PALESTINE — Kayla Bain faced a similar situation the night before against Avon, coming off the bench to pinch hit for New Palestine and narrowly missing out on a home run that slammed into the center field wall instead.
Back in Hancock County for the Dragons’ softball home opener Friday, the New Palestine junior didn’t miss against visiting Plainfield.
Bain entered the bottom of the third with the bases loaded, and she connected for an opposite-field grand slam, which fired up head coach Ed Marcum and the Dragons dugout en route to a weather-shortened, 10-2 victory after five compete innings.
The game was called in the top of the sixth, as hail and sleet rained upon the New Palestine field turf diamond and the Plainfield Quakers’ chance at a comeback with the bases loaded and two outs.
Both head coaches and the game officials decided to halt the contest to prevent any potential injuries due to the weather conditions.
Nonetheless, the outcome was decided with one swing from Bain, who finished 1-for-1 with four RBI, which increased her season total to five after driving in one of the Dragons’ double-digit runs against Avon during their 11-7 win.
“At first, I couldn’t tell when it landed whether it was out or not,” Marcum remarked on Bain’s longball. “Then, I saw it. First grand slam dragon, so that was pretty exciting. She came off the bench yesterday, cold, just like this, and she hit the fence, so I knew I was going to give her another opportunity in a big situation. She came through and did it again for us.”
Bain’s bomb that cleared the right-field wall capped New Palestine’s five-run bottom of the third and sparked another run in the fourth and four more in the fifth. The Dragons tallied nine hits with two doubles and Bain’s first-career varsity home run.
The homer was commemorated by a tiny, red plastic dragon that fit comfortably in Bain’s jacket pocket after the game.
“Coach had a little trouble getting (the dragon) out of his pocket, but it’s always great to see coach give you a dragon,” Bain said. “It’s always a great time, and I couldn’t have done it without my teammates in front of me. I thought it was gone when it came off the bat, but I was like maybe not, then I saw coach get excited, and I knew. It’s gone.”
The toy dragon has become a new tradition at New Palestine with a green one awarded for home runs and the red one for grand slams. Bain was the first to achieve the grand-slam feat since the team adopted the ritual this season.
“It’s something new this year. One of the girls said, ‘Hey, we should do something for home runs like ducks or something.’ So, I just figured we’d do little dragons,” Marcum said. “We do a home run dragon, and I toss it to them when they’re rounding third and heading for home. If it’s a grand slam, I have some red dragons, so they can trade in their regular dragon for a grand slam dragon.”
Bain exchanged her green dragon for a red one after the Dragons improved their record to 2-0-1 this year with back-to-back wins.
“That’s what you want out of people that are in the dugout. You want them ready to perform at any point in time,” Marcum said. “If somebody’s struggling, I’m going to make a switch, so I try to tell them to be ready for anything and everything.”
An RBI-single by Aglaia Rudd set the stage for Bain in the third, as Allie Blum led off the inning with a walk and later scored on the base hit. A one-out single by Maddie Engle and a walk drawn by Alaina Miller provided Bain a chance to break the game open.
In the bottom of the second, the Dragons loaded the bases with two outs, but a slick catch in center field robbed Alyssa Mumaw of driving in New Palestine’s first runs.
“They made some really good plays in the outfield. We had a few that I thought were going to carry with the cold and the wind, but they just didn’t’ quite carry out,” Marcum said. “They made some big plays out on the warning track.”
The Quakers (2-1) weren’t catching Bain’s bomb or slowing down Aglaia (.455) at the plate.
Aglaia finished 3-for-4 with three RBI. She drove in a run in each of the last three innings, including the Dragons second to last one in the fifth with a double that scored Blum (2-for-3, double, RBI).
Blum is now hitting .727 on the season five RBI. Aglaia leads the Dragons with eight RBI.
“Allie has just been on fire the whole season so far, so hopefully, she stays hot. We have some other girls that are going to produce, but they’re struggling a little bit right now, but I think we’re going to be fine,” Marcum said. “I’m excited. This is a great group of young ladies. I’m so happy I get to coach them because they’re just a fantastic group to be around. They’re just a lot of fun.”
Nyla Lewis was 1-for-2 with a double for the Dragons, while Mumaw and Paige Ernstes each had one RBI.
Dragon starter Alexa Holman collected the win, going 4.0 innings with three strikeouts, no walks and five hits allowed. Katie Kottlowski pitched in relief and went 1.2 frames with a walk, a strikeout and three hits surrendered.
The only blemish for the New Palestine pitching duo was a solo home run by Emily Marks in the top of the fourth and a run scored on an error in the same frame. Plainfield recorded seven hits.
“Katie and Alexa pitched pretty well, I thought. We just wanted to kind of mix it up,” Marcum said. “Courtney (Study), I was really wanting to get her an inning, and I had her come in for the sixth, then it starts hailing on her, so that didn’t happen.”
The Dragons will have time to spread some innings next week with three consecutive home games against East Central on Tuesday, Franklin Central on Wednesday and Hamilton Southeastern on Thursday. They travel to Carmel on Friday.
“These wins just makes us stronger as a family, honestly. This isn’t just a team. This is a family to me,” Bain said. “I feel like all the girls on the team feel that. We have a very close bond. We will always be there for each other.”
New Palestine 10, Plainfield 2
Plainfield (2-1);000;20x; —;2;7;2
New Palestine (2-0-1);005;14x; —;10;9;2
HR: NP – Kayla Bain. PHS – Emily Marks. 2B: NP – Aglaia Rudd, Allie Blum, Nyla Lewis. PHS – Laila Whitaker.
WP: Alexa Holman. LP: Kami Arnett.
