Prep roundup for Monday, April 17

Apr. 17—Northwestern's girls track team scored an even 100 points to win Hamilton Heights' 11-team Big Orange Invitational on Saturday.

Hannah Moore won a pair of events for Northwestern, taking the 1,600 in 5:23 and the 800 in 2:27. Lexi Hale won high jump, clearing 5 feet, 4 inches. And Courtney Adams won the 3,200 in 12:06.

"The girls decided to give it everything," NW coach Josh Perry said. "We had nearly everyone on the roster get a season-best or personal-best on the day. Anna Perry and Katrin Saulamaa paved the way for us in the sprints. Both runners made it to the finals in the 100 and 200, even though they were not seeded to make both finals.

"Hannah Moore and Courtney Adams had impressive days and took all three distance races. Lexi Hale notched another win at high jump and scored big points with a third-place finish in the 100 meter hurdles. The 4x100 relay of Mayli Yoder, Lexi Hale, Emma Baker and Anna Perry also scored third place in the meet."

Lewis Cass freshman Aftin Griffin broke the meet record and school record in the 400-meter dash with a time at 58.56 seconds at Hamilton Heights.

She also won the 200 dash in :26.95 and was third in the 100 with a time of :13.15. She was the overall top scorer and won 28.5 points of the Kings' overall 64 points.

The Kings placed fifth as a team with six girls contributing. Liberty Scott won the 300 hurdles paced second in the 100 hurdles and was part of the winning 4x400 relay team.

Eastern took ninth. Makenna Brooks had a big day for the Comets, winning the 100, taking third in the 200 and second in the long jump.

"Makenna is talented and mentally tough,' Eastern coach Anne Kantz said. "Her strength shines through each performance."

Also for the Comets, Elisabeth Bruno was fourth in shot and fourth in discus. Lily Greene was fifth in high jump. Hannah Morrisett was fifth in pole vault. And Alesia Rummel was fifth in the 800.

"Many girls had season- or personal-bests, which is great to see as we head towards our conference meet in a couple weeks," Kantz said.

BOYS TRACK

BIG ORANGE INVITE

Maconaquah took second at Hamilton Heights' 10-team Big Orange Invite with 106 points, three points behind champion Guerin Catholic and 6.5 points ahead of third-place Heights. Cass was fifth with 53, Tipton sixth with 48, Eastern seventh with 42, Western eighth with 38, and Northwestern 10th with 17.5

For Eastern, Jayden Eagle was first in the long jump and took second in the 100 and 200. Obadiah Greene was second in the 1,600. Andrew Cavazos was fifth in shot put.

Northwestern's Colin Feazel led the Tigers' effort with a second-place finish in the 800 (2:02.85). He, Clayton Griswold, Jacob Bumgardner and Eric Binder were also fifth in the 4x400 (3:43.02).

"I am very happy with the efforts from the boys at the Big Orange Invitational," NW coach Alex Pier said. "Fifteen PRs or [season-bests] is a good day. The competition was quite strong and the boys did not falter."

SOFTBALL

EASTERN SWEEPS NW

The Comets (7-1) swept visiting Northwestern, ending both games early via the mercy rule.

Eastern won the opening game 11-1. Macy Coan drove in the game's opening run in the bottom of the first inning as she and Emillia Andrews were the key sparks for the Comets' offense. Coan and Andrews were each 3 for 4. Coan was also the winning pitcher, going six innings with three hits, a run and 13 strikeouts.

The Comets won the closer 14-3. Andrews, Cassidy Keene, Kenzie DeGraaff and Maggie Johnson each had two hits. Coan threw a scoreless, hitless opening two innings, then gave way to DeGraaff, who pitched the rest of the way. DeGraaff allowed five hits and struck out three.

MAC SWEEPS

The Braves beat visiting Blackford 11-5 in the opener and 9-7 in the closer.

Over the two games, Shaela Brazzel had six hits including a double and drove in four runs. Amaya Rader had two triples, a homer, a single and scored four runs. Blayklee Buman had four hits and three RBI. Sydney Barnes had three hits, drove in four runs and scored six. Hailey Scarlett had four hits and four RBI.

GIRLS TENNIS

MT. VERNON INVITE

With a first-place finish from the No. 1 doubles team of Emily Goltz and Anna Grube, Northwestern took second in the eight-team invitational. Mount Vernon won with a score of 44, Northwestern scored 31 and South Knox was third at 30.

Goltz and Grube won three matches, beating Marion 6-0, 6-0, beating South Knox 6-4, 6-3, and beating Centerville 6-2, 6-1.

Tiger No. 1 singles player McKenna Layden finished second, going 2-1. Avery Rooze was also 2-1 at No. 2 singles, taking third. The No. 2 doubles team of Megan Shank and Lauren Lesko went 2-1 to take fifth.

"This is a fantastic tournament for us to be able to play so early in the season," NW coach Kathie Layden said. "The competition is great and playing three two-out-of-three-set matches in a day is tough.

"Emily and Anna played extremely well in all three matches and took home first place. They are a tough matchup at 1 doubles for sure. McKenna had a couple marathon matches and played really well as well. She was down 2-4 in the first set to Centerville and fought back to win 7-5, 6-3."

MAC 5, CARROLL 0

The Braves won a series of straight-set matches to win on the road.

Molly Tenny won the No. 2 singles match 6-1, 6-0, Kiera Rosenow won the No. 2 match 6-0, 6-3, and Zoe Moore won the No. 3 match 6-0, 6-3. Kailee Meadows and Kaydence Jones won the No. 1 doubles match 6-3, 6-2, and Finley Dobbs and Josie Callane won the No. 2 doubles match 6-0, 6-3.

"The Lady Braves went out with leads and closed matches quickly to clinch the match," Maconaquah coach Makenna Moore said.

CASS 4, HH 1

The Kings swept the singles points in a home victory over a Hoosier Conference East Division rival.

Erika Johnson won the No. 1 singles match 6-2, 6-3. Katie Hurst won the No. 2 match 6-0, 6-0. Addison Ousley won the No. 3 match 6-3, 6-2. And the No. 2 doubles team of Guadalupe Gonzalez and Maryn Zeck won 6-1, 6-0.

"Battling both their opponents and the heat, the girls were able to take home a 4-1 victory over Hamilton Heights," Cass coach Matt Hurst said.

PLYMOUTH INVITE

Peru finished fourth behind Fairfield, Crown Point and Plymouth in an eight-team invitational.

Mackey Hyde and Lauren Boyer won the No. 2 doubles flight, topping teams from Kankakee Valley, Tippecanoe Valley and Plymouth. The team of Kara Baker and Esmeralda Flores was third in the 2 doubles flight, beating LaVille and KV.

BASEBALL

NORTHWESTERN 10, MISSISSINEWA 2

Cole VanNatter broke a 1-1 tie with a grand slam in the bottom of the fourth inning to propel the Tigers to a big win as they improved to 7-1. Lincoln Cardwell was 2 for 3 with a double.

Eastin Whaley got the win on the mound, throwing five innings with five hits, three walks, an earned run and two strikeouts. Karson Griggs threw two innings with four walks, a run and four strikeouts.

"That grand slam was really kind of the key point in the game," NW coach Ryan Ward said. "All around I feel like we are playing good baseball in all phases of the game. Pitchers are throwing strikes, defense is playing well and limiting big innings, and our offense — we scored 14 runs, 14 runs and 10 runs this week."

TC SWEEPS

Tri-Central's baseball team got a five-inning no hitter from freshman Nate Cherry in a 13-0 victory at Triton, then beat Triton again 18-4 in the second game. Both games ended after five frames.

Cherry had four walks and 11 strikeouts in his opening gem. Felix Perez fueled the offense with a triple, two singles and three RBI. Logan Sargent had two singles and Trenton Patz doubled.

"[Cherry] was spot on, hitting spots, moving locations up and down and in and out," TC coach Shane Arnold said. "For a freshman to really light it up like he did was really impressive. Triton had three kids that were hitting over .500 coming into the game, four hitting over .400."

Both games had web gems from TC. In the first game, Perez made a diving catch in left-center to score the first out of the first inning. In the second game, Sargent makes a diving catch running toward the outfield wall, flipped the ball to Patz, who threw home to cut down the runner that had tagged at third base trying to score.

In that second game Blake Hartman threw the first three innings for the win with one hit, no earned runs, four walks and a strikeout. Perez had two singles and a triple. Sargent had three singles. Dane Adams, Cherry and Daetyn Horn each had two singles, with Horn driving in three runs. And Izzy Fowler had a three-run double.

TC is 5-0, off to its best start since at least 2005.

"Our young team is really playing well together, for one another, through one another," Arnold said. "Nobody's bigger than the team and that is a testament to our upperclassmen's leadership."

HSE SWEEPS KOKOMO

Hamilton Southeastern swept a doubleheader against Kokomo at HSE, holding the Kats to 11 hits over 14 innings.

HSE won the opener 5-1, limiting the Kats to five singles. Jacob Walker led Kokomo, going 2 for 3. Dalton Dixon took the loss, throwing all six innings with five hits, two walks, three earned runs and striking out five.

The Royals edged Kokomo 7-6 in the closer, rallying for three runs over the fifth and sixth innings to overturn Kokomo's 6-4 lead through four. Dixon led the Kats' offense, going 2 for 4. Walker doubled. Reliever Larry Hamilton took the loss.

TL 16, MAC 6, 6 INN.

The Indians scored in every inning of a game at Twin Lakes. Maconaquah tied the game at 4-all through the top half of the third, but couldn't keep pace with the Indians, who scored seven in the bottom of the sixth to end it.

Bennett Isenburg, M.J. Ellis, Kaleb Shelton and Jackson Collins each had two hits for the Braves.

BOYS GOLF

TWIN LAKES INVITE

Led by individual medalist Maverick Conaway, Tipton won the 19-team invitational at Tippecanoe Country Club with a sizzling score of 308. Noblesville was second with 316 and Faith Christian (318), Twin Lakes' red team (320) and West Lafayette (337) rounded out the top five.

Conaway fired a 3-under 69 which included an eagle and three birdies. Also for the Blue Devils, Gavin Hare shot a 76 and took third place, Nolan Swan shot a 79 and Preston Lancaster and Calvin Condict shot 84s.

"It was truly a team effort, every shot counted and the boys showed some true determination and grit down the stretch. I cant say enough how proud I am of these young men. They played an awesome round of golf today and they deserved to win," Tipton coach Justin Palmer said. "Maverick Conaway played a truly spectacular round of golf. He is a true leader on and off the course and he never wavers too far off course and just stays in his lane and golfs his ball well."

Western (373) took eighth place. Callen Szerdy led the Panthers with an 83, Brody Fisher shot 93, Ethan Fisher shot 94 and Sam Thurston shot 103.

"First 18-hole invite for four of the five guys," Western coach Blake Conklin said. "Good learning experience. Comes with being as young as we are. Struggled with our short games so that will definitely be a point of emphasis to work on."

Peru (413) took 15th place. The Tigers counted Bryson Ragland's 100, Karter Schwartz's 101, Mason Camden's 105 and Maddox Bretzman's 107.