UNION CITY – In a late-season matchup featuring two strong pitchers, runs were expected to be difficult to come by. Preble Shawnee did just enough offensively and took advantage of key Mississinawa Valley miscues to come away with a hard-fought victory over the Lady Hawks on senior night.
Mississinawa Valley struck first and looked poised early to protect its home field. Leadoff hitter Trinity Reichard reached base in the bottom of the first and quickly moved into scoring position with a stolen base. With two outs, Cora Hoggatt lined a single to right-center field to bring Reichard home for the game’s first run.
Hoggatt later stole second and advanced to third on a throwing error before Ella Godfrey followed with an RBI single to extend the Hawks lead to 2-0 after one inning.
Preble Shawnee responded in the third inning. Colburn singled to start the rally before Schroeder reached on a throwing error that allowed Colburn to score and cut the deficit to 2-1.
The Arrows evened the score in the fourth inning when Addie Campbell reached on an error and Abby Barnhill followed with a sharply hit single up the middle to drive in the tying run.
After surrendering two runs in the opening inning, Preble Shawnee pitcher Colburn settled in and controlled the game. She retired Hawk hitters in order through the second, third, fourth, and fifth innings, helping keep momentum on the Arrows’ side.
“We have a fantastic pitcher, and she’s only a sophomore. She had a very good game,” said Preble Shawnee coach Abbie Lynch.
The Arrows, a youthful team with only two seniors and no juniors on the roster, appear to be gaining confidence as the postseason approaches.
“We are a very young team,” Lynch said. “We are finally fitting in our shoes a bit. I felt like there was a lot of those young people nerves at the beginning of the year, but I think we finally gained some confidence. I am excited we have such a great young group. It’s really a strong foundation to build on.”
Preble Shawnee added what proved to be crucial insurance runs in the sixth inning as defensive mistakes again hurt the Hawks.
“Our outfield has to do a better job of knocking the ball down. Errors killed us,” said Mississinawa Valley coach Shane Buckingham.
The Hawks made one final push in the bottom of the sixth. Cayde Neukam singled before Godfrey blasted a triple to bring home a run. Jada Zehringer later added an RBI single to trim the deficit, but Mississinawa Valley could get no closer.
The Hawks have battled through lineup changes and injuries in recent games, particularly behind the plate. With both their starting and backup catchers unavailable, senior Cayde Neukam stepped into the catcher position despite never having played there before.
“We are hoping to get our catcher back next game,” Buckingham said. “She probably won’t catch, but we are going to put her in the field. That moves four people back to different spots. That’s a problem we had today — we had to move a bunch of people to different spots.”
Both pitchers went the distance in an impressive duel inside the circle. Colburn earned the win for the Arrows, striking out 10 while issuing just three walks. Despite taking the loss, Godfrey delivered a strong performance for the Lady Hawks, recording 12 strikeouts and allowing only two earned runs. In the end, seven Mississinawa Valley errors proved too much to overcome.
With the win, Preble Shawnee improved to 13-8 on the season, while Mississinawa Valley fell to 8-10.
