Eastern Hancock players celebrate after winning against Union County in the IHSAA Class 2A Regional Championship last season. Eastern Hancock went on to win, 3-2, to advance to the semi-state. Beginning this spring, the two schools will be in the same sectional.
Tom Russo | The Daily Reporter
HANCOCK COUNTY — The sites are still be determined.
The degree of difficulty has already been decided.
It’s high.
The Indiana High School Athletic Association announced its baseball and softball sectional assignments for the 2022-23 and 2023-24 school years last week.
There were significant changes involving all four Hancock County schools.
In Class 4A, in both baseball and softball, New Palestine returns to play in the same tournament as county and Hoosier Heritage Conference rivals Mt. Vernon and Greenfield-Central, along with HHC rival Pendleton Heights.
New Palestine won last year’s Class 4A baseball Sectional 11 tournament at Roncalli. All teams were from Indianapolis except for the Dragons. New Palestine beat Franklin Central in the title game. It was a six-team tournament that also included Perry Meridian, Southport and Warren Central.
Indianapolis Arsenal Technical will take the Dragons spot in Sectional 11.
Class 4A Sectional 9, with the addition of New Palestine, will now be a seven-team tournament with the four HHC schools along with Anderson, Muncie Central and Richmond.
Anderson upset Mt. Vernon—which finished first and one spot ahead of New Palestine in the HHC — in last year’s tournament final.
“We’ve switched around. This is our third different sectional in the last three classifications,” New Palestine head baseball coach Shawn Lyons said. “We used to be in that sectional that was at Mt. Vernon or Pendleton Heights. It always puts a different spin. You may have won the HHC battle and then lose the sectional or vice versa.
“Either way, you’re going to play each game to win. You’re not going to worry about showing Mt. Vernon or Greenfield-Central or Pendleton a pitcher or two. The first goal is to win the conference … The sectional is the sectional. You never know about the draw or who you are going to have to play. It’s going to be interesting … We’re going to know each other pretty well.”
The same schools will make up the Class 4A sectional for softball.
Pendleton Heights and Mt. Vernon have led the way in recent Class 4A softball Sectional 9 tournaments, while New Palestine has played in the tournament that has featured Roncalli, winner of the last two Class 4A state titles.
The Dragons won consecutive Class 3A state titles from 2017-19. Both Mt. Vernon and Pendleton Heights reached semi-state rounds in each of the last two seasons, both were eliminated by Roncalli. In 2021, New Palestine’s lone loss came to Roncalli in the sectional tournament.
“I felt a few years ago that would be the way that we would go, to keep all of the conference schools in this direction,” New Palestine softball head coach Ed Marcum said. “I was surprised when they put us with Franklin Central and Roncalli.
“You have to beat everybody anyway. It’s certainly not going to be an easy sectional with the schools that are in there. I expect Pendleton Heights, Mt. Vernon and Greenfield to all be good again … In tournament time, it doesn’t matter who you’re playing, you have to play well to advance and those are all great teams, great programs and great coaches. At the same time it will be exciting to have the four of us that battle in the conference.”
In Class 2A, Eastern Hancock head softball coach Terry Stephens was surprised that its regional rival Union County, located in Liberty, 50 miles from Charlottesville, is now a sectional rival.
The two have met in each of the last three regionals played, 2019, 2021, 2022. Union County beat Eastern Hancock in 2019 and 2021. The Royals won last year’s game 3-2.
Each year both clubs looked to have the potential to make long tournament runs. In 2021, the Royals season ended 27-2 with a regional loss to the Patriots. Last year, they returned the heartbreak by ending Union County’s year at 26-3.
“It seemed like all of our other sports were headed toward the Indianapolis area, so that was what I was expecting,” Stephens said. “When I saw that I was like, ‘Man, the competition has got much stiffer with the new realignment.’”
“Every single team in that sectional has pitching and that’s the most important thing when it comes to softball,” Stephens added, noting that Union County wasn’t the only other strong team in the tournament. “It’s going to be tough. There’s going to be a lot of good games.”
Eastern Hancock won all three of its sectional games last year by the mercy rule, outscoring opponents 42-3. Union County did similar in its tournament, decisively beating foes 30-4. Both were tournament hosts last spring.
The new Class 2A Sectional 41, which will be the same for baseball, will also include Hagerstown, Knightstown, Northeastern and Shenandoah. Eastern Hancock hosted Sectional 42 last year with Knightstown, Triton Central, Scecina and Heritage Christian.
“There are going to be good games,” Stephens said. “I’ll take those games any day of the week over the blowout games where you feel you have to step off.”
