Friday night roundup

What a wild night we had at New Palestine. Chris Lambert and I were glad so many of you joined us for some great offensive baseball. In two games, we saw 45 runs scored against two teams with some pretty good pitching. The offenses were on.

In the first game, New Palestine clinched the HHC title outright with an 11-4 victory over Mt. Vernon. MV led 4-3 in the fifth on Jon Michael Weaver's two-run single up the middle, but NP answered with eight runs in the sixth -- all with two outs -- as they put together seven hits and mixed in a couple of walks. Jacob Barnes' bases-clearing double capped off the inning, but four straight two-out RBI hits after the Dragons tied the game at 4-4 helped break things open. Nick Smith threw a complete game for the victory.

In game 2, the Dragons' bats came out hot, scoring five runs in the first and 10 in the second against three Mt. Vernon pitchers. The Dragons added another in the third before Tyler Goff came in and held NP in check the rest of the game. The second inning was powered by David Gunst's three-run homer. However, NP had leads of 15-0 and 16-2, and MV charged back, scoring twice each in the second-through-fifth innings and scoring four more times in the seventh to close NP's lead to 18-12 at the finish. Brian Page had three hits and five RBI and also was the Dragons' winning pitcher. Gunst was 4-for-5 with four RBI with a triple and a homer. He needed a double for the cycle.

NP finishes the regular season 22-3 (13-1). MV is now 15-8 (9-5) with two regular season games remaining. The Marauders open sectional play at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Shelbyville. Logan Blair will likely face Shelbyville ace Dylan Alvis in that contest. NP will open sectional play at 10 a.m. Monday against Hamilton Heights. The second semifinal that day will feature the MV-Shelby winner against Rushville.

Greenfield-Central closes HHC play today with a doubleheader at Delta. 

In softball, New Palestine clinched a second-place finish in the HHC with a 7-3 victory at Delta. Meanwhile, Greenfield-Central scored 13 seventh-inning runs to beat Eastern Hancock 16-1. Sydney Haynes was 3-for-4 with five RBI to lead a potent Cougar attack. Tori Cuebas was 2-for-4 and drove in three runs. Olivia Barnhart allowed four hits and struck out 10. G-C finishes with a 19-11 mark and opens sectional play next week.

Also today, New Palestine and Mt. Vernon were to play for the sectional title at 10 a.m. in tennis.