New Palestine head coach Ed Marcum congratulates Reese Rosenbaum after scoring a run against Carmel Friday.
Tom Russo | The Daily Reporter
NEW PALESTINE — Coming in with a two-game losing streak, New Palestine’s softball team got some good advice from assistant coach Alyssa Dillard.
Since 2015, the powerhouse Dragons have had just one two-game losing skid. It happened a little less than a year ago when they dropped consecutive games to Shelbyville (7-5, on April 28) and eventual state champion Roncalli (15-5 on April 30) in their 23-4-1 season.
Set to play Carmel, the largest high school in the state, the Dragons were coming off losses Wednesday at Franklin Central (7-6) and Thursday at Hamilton Southeastern (11-7).
“It was in our heads a little bit (losing two in a row), but we did a good job having that goldfish memory and forgetting about it,” senior catcher Aglaia Rudd, who hit two home runs in a 7-1 victory over the Greyhounds, said.
A goldfish memory?
“Ten seconds. Coach Alyssa said, ‘Fun fact, goldfish have 10-second memories,’” shared Rudd. “Short-term memory loss is what we have to do in those situations and I think we did a pretty good job of executing that tonight.”
All the things the Dragons didn’t have Wednesday and Thursday were there on Friday.
Courtney Study threw a strong seven-inning outing, pitching a shutout until two outs in the seventh inning. She scattered six hits and had four strikeouts.
There was great hitting. Six of the 10 New Palestine hits were for extra bases. Rudd had two solo home runs. Junior Allie Blum had a two-run home run and an RBI-single. As a pinch-hitter, Reese Rosenbaum came off the bench and hit a two-run double. Paige Ernstes had a 3-for-3 night with two doubles.
The defense was there, too.
At shortstop, Blum made all the plays. She had six assists and two putouts.
In the third, fourth and fifth innings, the Dragons turned double plays to close out any hopes for Carmel rallies.
“We played really good defense and Courtney threw a really good game,” Dragons head coach Ed Marcum said. “(Courtney) did a great job and Allie was on fire at shortstop. She kept making play after play and Alyssa (Mumaw) made some really good plays at second base, also. Courtney had a really good defense behind her and she was hitting spots and moving the ball. It was big to have her (Friday, after missing Thursday due to a track meet) and she came out throwing well.
“Aglaia got us going. She’s a great kid, great leader and good hitter. She put the team on her back to start. It was pretty cool. Paige broke out of her slump, going 3-for-3. That was big and Allie hit the ball really well too.”
Marcum also praised the play of his players coming off the bench, including Rosenbaum, who he said has had a good overall week.
Rudd started the scoring in the first inning. She hit a two-out solo home run to left field to put the Dragons up 1-0.
In the top of the third, Carmel had a runner on first with one out. Study fanned Sophie Esposito and catcher Rudd threw out a would be base-stealer to end the inning.
In the bottom of the inning, New Palestine had a stretch of five consecutive hits. Jersi Gross had a one-out single. It was followed by a two-run home run to left field by Blum for a 3-0 lead. Rudd made it back-to-back shots to left for a 4-0 advantage. Mumaw and Ernstes also had hits in the third.
The Carmel fourth ended in a 4-6-3 double play. The fifth was finished when Blum stabbed a line drive, and then threw to first base to double-up the Carmel runner.
New Pal scored three more in the sixth. It started with an Ernstes double. Rosenbaum had a two-run double later and Blum’s RBI-single finished the scoring.
“It’s big, especially coming off these last two games,” Rudd said of finishing the week off with a victory. “I think it put our mental state back where it’s supposed to be and back playing Dragon softball.”
New Palestine returns to action Monday with a 6 p.m. game at Westfield.
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New Palestine 7, Carmel 1
Carmel (1-5);000;000;1; —;1;6;1
New Palestine (5-2);103;003;x; —;7;10;1
Lucy Broughton and Mia Fleming; Courtney Study and Aglaia Rudd. 2B: C – Bella Davis; NP – Paige Ernstes 2, Reese Rosenbaum. HR: NP – Rudd 2 (3), Blum (4). WP: Study (4-0). LP: Broughton (1-3).
