Royals overpower two semistate teams behind Rothrock no-hitters, take aim at state title three-peat Saturday
(SOUTHSIDER VOICE PHOTOS BY GREG ROTHROCK)
Editor
Early-season doubts have given way to dominance as Roncalli’s Royals are aiming at an IHSAA 4A three-peat Saturday at Bittinger Stadium on the Purdue University campus.
The confident Royals of head coach David Lauck pounded Evansville North 16-1 in the 4A Center Grove Semistate opener Saturday and dismantled upset-minded Pendleton Heights, 8-0 for Roncalli’s 10th straight win and sixth playoff win with a massive post-season margin of 70-2.
Roncalli has earned its third straight trip to state finals against Penn (27-4-1) Saturday at 7 p.m. in West Lafayette, $15 admission per person, payable online in advance. Without facing Rothrock in the circle, the host Kingsmen defeated the Royals’, 13-3 April 22.
After their first five games this season, the Royals were 3-1-1, not exactly the start expected from the nation’s No. 1 softball team of 2022 and 2023 pre-season Indiana No. 1 as Lauck sought to replace only three starters from last year’s state finals starting lineup.
Lauck praised the team’s leadership from his eight seniors on a team with four juniors, four sophomores, and three freshmen.
“Give the credit to the seniors,” Lauck said between games Saturday at Center Grove on Russ Milligan Field. “They knew this season wasn’t going to be smooth sailing. They knew there would be bumps in the road and we talked about how to handle that. Our seniors and two senior managers kept everybody positive when things became challenging.”
Senior Lyla Blackwell (Virginia Tech signee) explored the difference between 32-0 last year and the Royals early start, particularly with 2022 Gatorade National Player of the Year Keagan Rothrock on the mend from off-season surgeries and an infection.
“Last year, I felt more confident about the season than this year because I knew we had to work harder than normal this year,” Blackwell frankly said. “At the beginning of the season, we struggled how to say things appropriately and not hurt the team chemistry. Every single huddle, we made sure we were together, humble, never cocky. We said no matter what happens, we will leave it all on the field.”
Rothrock pieced together back-to-back no-hitters Saturday against Evansville North and Pendleton Heights. Leading 6-0, North scored its lone run on a walk and a rare outfield error in the third inning. Roncalli then pushed across five runs each in the fourth and fifth innings, all in a 17-hit attack led by three hits apiece by Blackwell, junior Emma Fegan, Abbey Hofmann, and Rothrock. Against Pendleton Heights, Rothrock struck out 13 Arabians and allowed no one beyond second base.
Hofmann, a Marian University signee, expressed relief and observed, “As seniors, this is an amazing feeling because we have worked so hard the last three years. But this year was different than the year before that … we didn’t know if we were going to make it to state. We are proving to those who doubted us; these two games have proven we are the same great team. We were never down. The team chemistry wasn’t there early but we found our way.”
The Royals were strong at the plate, top to bottom in the lineup, all day.
Class valedictorian Anna Dressman led off the second inning against North with a solo home run for a 3-0 lead. One-out hits by Blackwell, sophomore Carley Keller, and Fegan plus Rothrock’s two-out triple to deep right field produced three more runs.
After three scoreless innings against the Arabians, Roncalli left the bases loaded in the fourth, but then the bats came alive in a four-run fifth sparked by Willis’ lead-off single, Blackwell’s triple, Fegan’s single and a double steal. Two Arabians miscues paved the way for four more runs in the sixth with RBIs by Dressman, Willis, Fegan, and Hoffman.
Willis remarked, “It’s exciting to go back (state finals); that’s what we’ve been preparing for.”
The Royals take an amazing three-year record of 93-5-1 into this year’s 4A state championship game.