AVON – Battery mates Jenny Esparza and Helen Rogers carried the load April 23 as Class 4A second-ranked Avon upset 4A No. 1 visiting Center Grove, 3-1, in a highly anticipated duel of unbeaten softball powerhouses.
The senior duo got it done both offensively and defensively in gusty, 70-degree temperatures in the suburbs just west of Indianapolis. All Rogers did was double and score the game’s first run in the second inning before registering the game-winning hit on a single to center field in the fifth.
Esparza? All the Butler-bound right-handed hurler did was surrender four hits to the high-powered Trojans while striking out 18 and walking only two. Esparza kept her earned run average perfect at zero while improving to 8-0 on the season, and she also had a huge hit to help her cause.
Avon, which will compete along with several other highly regarded 4A schools this weekend at the Ben Davis Invitational, improves to 9-0 with the victory. Center Grove, which came into the 1 vs. 2 showdown having outscored its opponents by a combined 94-5, drops to 13-1.
Need some perspective on that 18-strikeout thang? Against a team that was averaging 7.2 runs a game, the Avon defense got 86 percent of Center Grove’s outs courtesy of Esparza whiffs.
Yet that’s not to say the Trojans didn’t have their chances (leadoff single in the second, runner on third in the fourth with two outs, leadoff runner after a hit-by-pitch in the sixth, bases loaded with two outs in the seventh). It’s just that the Orioles did a better job of capitalizing on theirs.
That advantage in taking care of business started in the second frame, when Rogers ripped a lead-off double over the head of Center Grove senior leftfielder Shelby Music. After Trojan senior righty Emily Gwaltney struck out the next two batters, Avon senior first baseman Katie Mathieu poked a soft liner just over CG senior second baseman Sarah Alberico’s outstretched glove.
Rogers was able to slide in just ahead of the throw from CG senior rightfielder Katherine Belsito, and Avon was up 1-0 on Mathieu’s run batted in.
The Orioles threatened again in the third, putting runners on first and second with only one out. But Gwaltney (6-1) again struck out back-to-back batters to escape any harm.
That mo’ carried over into the top of the fourth, when Center Grove tied the game on a passed ball. After retiring the first two batters, Esparza walked senior catcher Sydney Miller before sophomore first baseman Liz Prince lined a single into right field.
Despite an absolutely gorgeous throw to third by freshman rightfielder Jessie Mathieu, Miller somehow managed to elude the tag as Prince motored to second in behind the throw. Miller scored when an Esparza pitch got past Rogers, and Prince advanced to third when Rogers’ throw to the plate in attempt to get Miller was wild.
But Esparza logged one of her umpteen strikeouts on the next batter, CG senior third baseman Brittney Shaner, and the score was tied at 1-1 heading to the bottom of the fourth.
Avon wasted no time in once again putting runners on first and second – this time with no outs – as senior third baseman Nikki Burris ripped a one-hop single to left and senior shortstop Holly Wasmund also reached first when Gwaltney’s throw to second on a sacrifice bunt attempt sailed into center field.
But the Trojan pitcher bore down again, retiring the next three batters on a pop-up to second, a flyout to center, and her own throw to first on another bunt attempt.
After Esparza K’d all three batters in the top of the fifth, however, Center Grove was unable to hold off yet another Oriole rally in the decisive bottom of the inning.
Junior centerfielder Bailey Smith led off with a soft lined single to right-center, and she advanced to second on a sac bunt by Jessie Mathieu. Time for “The Esparza/Rogers Show”!
Esparza ripped a shot to left and, with the stiff breeze at her back, the ball just glanced off Music’s glove in deep left. The double put Avon runners at second (freshman courtesy runner Riley Larkin came on for Esparza) and third, setting the stage for Rogers’ ripped single to left that scored Smith and gave the Orioles a 2-1 advantage.
With runners again at second and third (Rogers advanced on a throw to third), Avon plated its third and final run in most bizarre fashion. Burris smoked a liner into right to score Larkin, but Belsito rifled a throw to first in time to rob Burris of a single.
With Rogers on third, Gwaltney got Wasmund to fly out to left. Still, the damage had been done.
But Center Grove would not go quietly, forcing Esparza & Co. to sweat out a sacks-jammed top of the seventh before they could reward themselves with some post-game Oreos.
Prince got the ball rolling with a lined single to right, but Shaner struck out. After Prince moved to second on a passed ball, Avon’s Smith made the play of the game with a great running catch to her left and looking into the sun on a shot to center off the bat of her Center Grove defensive counterpart, junior Kelsey Williams.
(And yes, I do have an affinity for the ridiculously long run-on sentence.)
With their backs now firmly against the wall, the Trojans got a walk from Belsito and a single slapped past third base by junior shortstop Amber Elsey to load ‘em up. But Esparza got Music on a 1-2 pitch to slam the door.
Gwaltney went the distance for Center Grove, giving up seven hits while striking out nine and walking two.
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