Confident Saint Joseph, Penn to meet familiar foes in IHSAA softball semistates

It will be familiar foes for both the Saint Joseph and Penn softball squads come Saturday.

The pair face off against regular-season opponents with much more on the line this time around in semistate semifinal play.

No. 4 Saint Joseph's faces No. 3 Yorktown (25-3) in the second semifinal contest at 1 p.m. at the Class 3A Twin Lakes Semistate in Monticello.

Penn, No. 14 in the final Class 4A poll, tangles with Crown Point (18-13) in the 11 a.m. semifinal opener at the Harrison (West Lafayette) Semistate.

The semistate finales at both sites are set for 7 p.m. Saturday. Champions advance to the state finals June 10 or 11 at Purdue University.

The Indians sport a 25-3 mark after a gutty 1-0 win at No. 8 Benton Central in regional action Tuesday night. Saint Joseph lost 5-1 to Yorktown back on May 14 in a weather-delayed game at Indianapolis Chatard.

Penn, which has now won a state record eight straight regional titles, dominated host Northridge 17-4 Tuesday night in a regional clash in Middlebury. The Kingsmen, who are 22-9, won at Crown Point 6-4 on April 15.

► More: How Saint Joseph improved to 12-for-12 in regional softball. Thank the Zaches for this one

Indians ready to go

Longtime Saint Joseph coach Earl Keith calls the first meeting with Yorktown a "weird" one.

"That game took us like four hours to play because we had like three lightning delays," recalled Keith Wednesday of the first contest. "We actually hit the ball all over that day (with 7 or 8 hits). We just could not score more than the one run."

The Indians, who had another game versus Chatard canceled that day due to the weather, did not pitch Berkeley Zache in the first meeting versus Yorktown. The freshman phenom fired a one-hitter with 17 strikeouts Tuesday night. She allowed just a first-inning single and fanned 14 in a row at one point in the regional victory.

"I like our chances," noted Keith, who guided his team to a state runner-up finish in 2018. "I think that we match up well with Yorktown. Our pitching gives us a chance to win every game and we will lean on Berkeley come Saturday. Our pitching gives us a lot of confidence.

"Our bunch believes they can win. I think that it's a tough semistate. Yorktown is always strong. They hit and they have a strong pitcher. Leo is very good too. I think it will come down Saturday to who gets a break or who makes a play."

The Indians lost 10-0 to Kankakee Valley in the semifinals at Twin Lakes a year ago. Valley (11-13) plays No. 6 Leo (27-2) in the first semifinal Saturday.

St. Joe, which has won seven in a row since a loss at Penn, is led by Zache. The 6-1 hard-throwing righthander is 14-1 with 202 strikeouts.

The Indians have outscored their opponents 205-64. The offense is deep, led by sophomore catcher Riley Zache, senior shortstop Haley West, leadoff hitter Selena Botello and Berkeley Zache.  Riley Zache drove in the lone run in the regional with a sacrifice fly in the sixth inning. The Indians had one hit Tuesday night.

Yorktown, which beat Bellmont 5-2 Tuesday night, was state runnerup in 2019 and 2013. The Tigers have outscored their foes 230-46 this season with losses to Chatard, New Palestine and Hamilton Southeastern.

Yorktown is led by pitcher Alanah Jones. The senior is 15-2 with a 0.42 ERA. She has allowed seven earned runs in 117.2 innings with 12 walks and 227 strikeouts. Jones is also batting .351 with 10 homers and 29 RBI.

The Tigers also count heavily on senior Macie Dowd and sophomore Ava McNally. Dowd is batting .511 with 11 homers and 40 RBI, while McNally is at .365 with six homers and 23 RBI. Yorktown has 102 extra base hits, including 37 homers.

Penn prepared for next step

► Regional history: Penn makes state history powering its way to eighth straight 4A softball regional crown

A young Penn team will make for a tough out for anyone come Saturday.

Veteran Kingsmen coach Beth Zachary knows her squad is brimming with confidence after being battle tested all season against a tougher than nails schedule.

"Our girls should have all the confidence in the world for Saturday," said Zachary, who guided Penn to a semistate title in 2016. "This team has everything, pitching, depth, speed, power. If we execute and make adjustments, we will be okay.

"We are battle tested. Our schedule this season has put us in position where we have seen everything to be prepared for games like Saturday. We just need to play our game and trust our training.

"Semistate is brutal. It's a long day with two tough games.  You have to show up, execute and earn it. We know that."

"Our girls are playing for each other out there and that's a difference maker for us. That's the culture we want in our program."

Penn trailed Crown Point 4-0 in their first meeting before scoring twice in the fifth inning and four times in the sixth for the win. Sophomore Aubrey Zachary and freshman Liv Signorino combined to throw a four-hitter with 15 strikeouts in that contest.

"It's up to me on how to use Aubrey and Liv and I have a pretty good idea for Saturday," noted Zachary, a former prep state champion pitcher herself. "I have complete faith in all of our pitchers."

Zachary, daughter of the coach, and Signorino combined on a two-hitter in the regional win. Signorino worked the final four innings with eight strikeouts.

Penn, which lost 10-0 to Noblesville in the semistate at Harrison last year, started five freshmen in the regional win. The Kingsmen are led by slugging sophomore Abby Widmar, fab frosh Ava Zachary and slick-fielding junior shortstop Kiley Hinton. Penn had 14 hits, including three homers, in the dominating regional victory. Widmar, Hinton and talented frosh catcher Peyton Dwigans all homered Tuesday, while Ava Zachary had two doubles.

The Kingsmen have outscored their foes 211-78. They have 97 stolen bases, led by 29 from freshman leadoff hitter Izzi Hanna. Six players have 10 or more stolen bases for the Kingsmen.

Crown Point beat rival Lake Central 2-1 in the regional. The Bulldogs, who won a state title in 2017, have six seniors. Sophomore Kendra Steinberg is their top hurler, sporting a 9-9 mark with a 2.80 ERA with 47 walks and 67 strikeouts in 112.1 innings.

Crown Point, which finished 11-3 in the Duneland Athletic Conference, is led offensively by junior Emily Phillips at .478 with eight homers and 31 RBI. Senior Sydney Meyer has 22 RBI and sophomore Lexi Howard five homers and 22 RBI.

"We have quite the rivalry and history with Crown Point," noted Zachary, whose squad won the NIC title at 11-0. "They are just a good, solid team."

Softball Semistates

Saturday, June 4

Class 4A

At Harrison (West Lafayette)

11 a.m.:  Penn (22-9) vs. Crown Point (18-13)

1 p.m.: Columbia City (28-1) vs. Harrison (26-1)

7 p.m.: Championship

At Bedford North Lawrence

11 a.m.: Roncalli vs. Pendleton Heights

1 p.m.: Bedford North Lawrence vs. Shelbyville

7 p.m.: Championship

Class 3A

At Twin Lakes

11 a.m.: Leo (27-2) vs. Kankakee Valley (11-13)

1 p.m.: Saint Joseph (25-3) vs. Yorktown (25-3)

7 p.m.: Championship

At Brown County

11 a.m.: Pike Central vs. Tri-West Hendricks

1 p.m.: Cathedral vs. Corydon Central

7 p.m.: Championship

Class 2A

At Warsaw

11 a.m.: Whitko vs. North Newton

1 p.m.: Madison-Grant vs. Eastside

7 p.m.: Championship

At Forest Park

11 a.m.: Eastern Hancock vs. North Posey

1 p.m.: Eastern vs. South Vermillion

7 p.m.: Championship

Class 1A

At Frankfort

11 a.m.: North Miami (19-9) vs. Rossville (23-2)

1 p.m.: Cowan (16-8) vs. South Central (21-6) 

7 p.m.: Championship

At North Daviess

11 a.m.: Hauser vs. Trinity Lutheran

1 p.m.: Tecumseh vs. Clay City

7 p.m.: Championship

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: IHSAA softball semistate: St. Joseph, Penn ready to play Saturday