Pendleton Heights won their sixth consecutive Madison County softball championship.
Submitted photo
Lapel won their second consecutive Madison County title.
Submitted photo
Ave Jarrell races at the Madison County Championship where she broke the county record in the 1600-meter.
Submitted photo
Mark Neilsen competes in the hurdles at the Madison County Championship.
Submitted photo
Reis Schnepp competes in discus at the Madison County Championship.
Submitted photo
Ashaan Singh takes his attempt in the high jump at the Madison County Championship.
Submitted photo
Andrew Blake takes a hand off at the Madison County Championship.
Submitted photo
Lapel, Pendleton Heights find success in Madison County tournaments
By Brady Extin | The Times-Post
MADISON COUNTY — The weekend was a big one for both the Lapel and Pendleton Heights spring athletic teams. Beginning on Tuesday, April 11, and running through the weekend were the Madison County Tournaments in four sports — baseball, softball, girls tennis, and both boys and girls track and field. Each school grabbed one championship, while Pendleton Heights added a few runner-up finishes.
Baseball
Following a dominant tournament run, Lapel baseball became just the third team to win back-to-back Madison County championships.
Pendleton Heights did so in 2013-14 and 2016-17.
The Bulldogs defeated Madison-Grant in the final by a score of 11-4.
Throughout the three tournament victories, Lapel outscored its opponents 58-5. To go along with the 11-4 championship game victory, in game No. 1 the Bulldogs defeated Anderson Prep 40-1, and in game No. 2 they downed Pendleton Heights 7-0.
Senior Owen Imel got the Bulldogs started quickly in the championship with a leadoff home run, and later in the inning Isaac Bair launched a three-run home run of his own for an early 4-0 Lapel lead. The Bulldogs’ first eight batters reached base, and Imel added a two-run double for his second hit of the inning to give Lapel a 7-0 lead after one.
Madison-Grant scored three runs in the third, and one in the fourth, but each time was answered by Lapel.
Talen Jarret added three RBI for Lapel, and on the mound Rylie Hudson and Kai Newman gave up a combined five hits and four runs while striking out nine.
After falling to Lapel in the semifinal game, Pendleton Heights went on to defeat Anderson 5-0 in the consolation game to claim third place.
Spencer Leppink gave up just two hits while striking out 10 across four scoreless innings of work. At the plate, Payton Stewart went 3-for-4 with an RBI.
Softball
Pendleton Heights continued its Madison County Tournament dominance with its sixth consecutive title.
In the championship game, the Arabians — ranked No. 8 in the state — defeated Elwood 16-1.
Pendleton Heights allowed just three runs all tournament, outsourcing its opponents 26-3 during the three-game stretch. To get to the final, in game No. 1 Pendleton Heights defeated Frankton 3-0, and in game No. 2 it knocked off Lapel 7-2.
In the championship game, Katelin Goodwin, Alana Smith, and Eliza Findlay all recorded two hits. The Pendleton Heights bench contributed five hits.
On the mound, Findlay pitched the complete game, allowing just one hit and one run while striking out five.
Elwood got on the scoreboard first in the top of the opening frame, but wouldn’t cross the plate the remainder of the game, and would lose the lead quickly. Goodwin tied things in the bottom of the first with an RBI double, and Smith knocked in the go-ahead run on an RBI single. Goodwin added another double in the second to score two more runs, and the Arabians eventually broke things wide open with an eight-run fourth inning.
In the consolation game, Lapel defeated Alexandria-Monroe 15-5 to secure third place.
The Bulldogs used a five-run opening inning to earn the win. Hannah Laughlin had an RBI single in the first, and both Alexa Owens and Karlie Jannings added two-run doubles.
Alexandria-Monore would make it 7-5 in the fourth before three Lapel runs pushed the lead back up to five, and five more runs by the Bulldogs in the fifth ended the game early.
Boys and girls track
Both the Pendleton Heights boys and girls grabbed second place team finishes at this year’s Madison County tournament, while the Lapel girls finished in fourth, and the Lapel boys finished in fifth.
The Arabians runner-up finish on the girls side ended a 14-year stretch of county titles.
Frankton won on the girls side with 145 points, narrowly beating Pendleton Heights at 142. Madison-Grant finished in third with 92.5, topping Lapel’s 76.5. Rounding out the girls team scores were Anderson (42), Anderson Prep (37), Alexandria (36), Elwood (35) and Liberty (1).
On the boys side, Madison-Grant won with 163.5. Rounding out the scores were Pendleton Heights (139.33), Anderson (95), Lapel (74), Anderson Prep (29), Alexandria (23), Elwood (4) and Liberty (3).
In the boys events, Cameron Smith took first place in both the 800 and 1,600-meter races for Lapel. Nate Belvo added two more first-place finishes for the Bulldogs, winning both the shot put and discus.
The Arabians got a lone first place finish from Benson Davis in the 3,200-meter. Layne Richardson added a trio of runner-ups in the 100- and 200-meter sprints, and the long jump.
Andrew Blake was runner-up to Smith in the 1,600-meter, Mark Nielsen was second in the 110-meter hurdles, Jay Seeko was second in pole vault, and Gabe Martin was runner-up to Belvo in the shot put. Reis Schnepp added a third-place finish in both the shot and discus.
On the girls side, Pendleton Heights earned seven individual county titles.
Addison Stanley won both the 100- and 200-meter sprints, Ava Jarrell took home the 800 and 1,600-meter races, both the 4×400 and 4×800 relay teams finished in first, and Whitney Warfel secured the discus title.
Jarrell’s time of 5:08.19 in the 1,600-meter broke the Madison County record time of 5:22.98 set in 2016.
Abby Fisher was runner-up for the Arabians in the 400-meter, Warfel added a second-place in shot put, Jaycee Thurman was second in the 3,200-meter, and Hadley Walker was third in the 800-meter.
For Lapel, Hannah Combs grabbed the Bulldogs’ lone individual title in the 3,200-meter. She added a third-place finish in the 1,600-meter.
Sophie Goodwin was runner-up to Jarrell in both the 800 and 1,600-meter races. Regan Stookey finished in second place in the 200-meter, and in third in the 100-meter, and Jocelyn Love finished in third in the 400-meter.
Girls tennis
Pendleton Heights reached the Madison County title game for the second consecutive year, but also for the second straight year fell to Alexandria, 5-0.
To get to the title game, the Arabians defeated Frankton 4-1, and Anderson 5-0.
The Arabians top two singles players, Jess Thompson and Gia Thorsen went 2-1 during the tournament. The two doubles teams of Ellie Manchess and Alaina Moore and Bella Ritchey and Sarah Ghosh won their first two matches before falling to Alexandria in the final, and No. 3 singles player Maddie Dutton earned a straight-set victory against Anderson.
Lapel fell to the eventual champions, Alexandria, 4-1 to open their tournament, but ended the weekend with a 3-2 win against Frankton.
Kerith Renihan, Gracie Lyons and Gracie Frazier swept the singles matches in straight sets to earn the victory.