PENDLETON — The normally red-hot hitting bats of the Pendleton Heights softball team picked a bad time to cool down.
In a battle of state ranked, Hoosier Heritage Conference rivals, the Arabians lost 6-0 to top-ranked New Palestine at Legends Field on Thursday, May 13.
Pendleton Heights came into the game ranked No. 14 in the Class 4A Indiana Coaches of Girls Sports Association poll and were also ranked second in the state with 51 home runs. The Arabians had won eight straight. The loss, at the time, dropped their record to 16-6 overall (3-2, HHC).
Story continues below photos.
They managed just two hits off New Palestine pitcher Sam Booe, who took a no-hitter into the sixth inning. She struck out 14 Arabians to lead the Dragons to their 24th straight win this season and 33rd overall.
The 2019 Class 3A state champions, now playing in Class 4A, last loss was a 5-2 defeat at the hands of Crown Point on May 11, 2019.
“Disappointing,” Pendleton Heights coach Rob Davis said of his team’s performance. “(Booe) is good, but striking out 14 times, it just wasn’t our night.
“I didn’t think we competed very well at the plate,” he added. “I thought we were just in there swinging instead of trying to hit the ball. We’ll learn and get better from this. We’ll learn from it and go from there.”
Every Pendleton Heights base runner came after two outs. In the first inning, Booe walked Bo Shelton, but fanned the next hitter to end the inning.
Starting with the final out of the first inning, Booe retired 15 in a row before Pendleton Heights Kylie Davis hit a sixth-inning two-out double off the right field fence.
In the seventh, after two strikeouts, Gracie Conkling singled, before Khloee Gregory was retired on a hard liner to third baseman Lexi Campbell to end the game.
“We just didn’t make many adjustments at the plate,” coach Davis added. “We’re going to watch some film and see what happened, work on balls above our head and not swing at them and see if we can get better.”
New Palestine picked up all the runs it needed in a four-run second. It added two more runs in the third.
In another battle between state-ranked teams, the Arabians returned some of their hitting prowess, but were on the short end of a doubleheader sweep at No. 12 Noblesville, Saturday.
Pendleton Heights lost the first game 16-15 and dropped the second 15-4.
Grace Scott had three home runs and seven RBI in the opener. Kylie Davis had four hits. Brynn Libler also had a home run.
In Game 2, Conkling had a home run and three RBI.
Prior to the New Palestine game, the Arabians had won two straight HHC games, including a 10-6 victory Tuesday, May 11, at Greenfield-Central. The Arabians got two home runs and four RBI from senior Conkling. Gregory, Libler and Shelton each had three-hit games. In all, the Arabians had 17 hits.
Going into the final week of the regular season, the Arabians are 16-8 and No. 17 in the ICGSA poll.
A scheduled Monday game with Class 2A No. 5 Eastern Hancock was canceled. The Arabians wrap up the regular season with three games. They were scheduled to finish the home season with an HHC contest against New Castle Tuesday. They traveled to Fishers on May 19 and to Yorktown on May 20.
The Mt. Vernon Sectional gets underway May 24 with a 5:30 p.m. first round game against Richmond.