MISHAWAKA — Penn High School softball coach Beth Zachary is not surprised one iota by the continued excellence of her team this season.
It’s simply what is expected.
Despite the loss of 11 seniors and a boatload of talent from a year ago, the Class 4A No. 2 Kingsmen are still rolling along like a fine-tuned machine.
Senior ace Caitlyn Denny fired a one-hitter Tuesday, April 28, as host Penn blanked South Bend Adams 11-0 in five innings.
The Kingsmen, who improved to 14-2 overall and moved to 5-0 in the Northern Indiana Conference, have now outscored their foes 152-53 this spring.
Adams, who got a strong relief pitching performance by sophomore Mackenzie Miller, dropped to 7-4-1 overall and 4-3 in conference action.
Penn scored all 11 of its runs in the home half of the first inning Tuesday night. The Kingsmen paraded 14 hitters to the dish and had five hits combined with four Eagles errors.
Senior slugger and Northwestern commit Logan Rumble added to her program record home run total with a two-run shot in the frame. Sophomore cleanup hitter Easton Masten capped the outburst with a three-run blast to make it 11-0 after the Eagles opted to walk Rumble intentionally.
The Kingsmen, despite plenty of new faces in new places, are playing like, well, Penn.
“I saw all of this coming,” said coach Zachary. “I saw the work that these girls put in during the offseason and in the weightroom. They were all chomping at the bit for their turn, their opportunity. They were all ready to go. … The thing is that these girls put in the work. They listen. They stay and take the extra reps. I can’t get my kids to leave practice.”
Penn finished 25-5 overall and won the NIC at 11-1 in 2025. The Kingsmen won a sectional, followed by their state-record 11th straight regional title. Penn saw its season end with a 4-2 loss to Crown Point in the semi-state title tilt. The Kingsmen roster last year featured plenty of Division 1 talent, including Miss Softball Ava Zachary. The middle of three daughters of the Penn coach is now the top hitter and starting third baseman at Notre Dame.
Penn catcher Phoebe Wood is one of four seniors, along with Denny, Addison Bogunia and Logan Rumble.
Wood, who plans to play at Taylor University, entered play Tuesday night batting .457 with seven RBIs and four doubles for a lineup batting .397 as a team.
“We want to win,” said Wood simply following the victory Tuesday night. “We have a lot of young, ambitious players. We have eager talent who have been waiting for their chance. The thing is that we all work together so well.”
Bogunia was batting fifth in the order versus the Eagles. The starting leftfielder has stepped up big after suffering a torn ACL early in her sophomore season. Bogunia was hitting .359 prior to play Tuesday night with eight RBIs, two doubles and two triples.
“Our young players have done a good job,” Bogunia remarked. “I have a lot of confidence in all of them because they are all very talented. They are willing to go all out.”
Wood was Penn’s first baseman in 2025. She and Bogunia are both four-year varsity players.
Denny, who shared pitching duties in 2025 with Liv Signorino (now a freshman pitcher at Toledo University), improved to 7-0 with the shutout versus Adams. She allowed just a first inning single to freshman Brayah Williams-Winston and had seven strikeouts, including the final two batters of the game, and two walks. Denny, who has overcome a pair of ACL injuries, has 43 strikeouts in 36 innings of work this season. She will play at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff.
The trio of Logan Rumble, sophomore Charlie Swiger and junior Kaiya Garringer are leading the potent Penn offense. Rumble entered the Adams game batting .556 with six homers and 34 RBIs. Swiger was hitting .511 and Garringer .477.
The state tournament draw is set for Sunday, May 3 at 7 p.m. by the IHSAA. Sectionals are May 25-30 with Penn hosting a seven-team Class 4A one. One game regionals are June 2, with four-team semi-states June 6 and the State Finals June 12-13 at Purdue University.
The Kingsmen beat Cathedral, ranked No. 1 in Class 3A at the time, 7-3 and Carmel 13-6 on April 25 at Carmel.
Penn has lost 14-0 to Class 4A No. 1 and undefeated Lake Central and 14-3 to Daviess County out of Kentucky. The loss to Lake Central was at Carmel on April 25 and the Kingsmen were held to just one hit in the five-inning contest.
The Kingsmen did have a 2-0 lead on Lake Central in the fourth inning of a home game on April 2 with Denny pitching a no-hitter when inclement weather forced the cancellation of the contest. Denny did not pitch in the 14-0 loss to Lake Central.
The Kingsmen lead the NIC at 5-0. Elkhart is the only other team unbeaten in league play. The Lions moved to 12-4 overall and 4-0 in the NIC with a 6-2 conference win over South Bend Saint Joseph Tuesday. Penn will play at Elkhart May 5 and host the Lions May 7. Elkhart, which plays St. Joe again on April 30, lost 10-0 to Penn in a Class 4A regional game in 2025.
Coach Zachary, who won a Class 4A state title in 2023, believes her team is set up for great things down the road.
“I feel like this team has everything it needs,” Zachary stated. “We have offense, defense, pitching, depth, power, speed. I don’t think nothing can stop us if we keep trusting each other and build on the momentum that we have.”
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Penn softball squad not missing a beat in another stellar season
Reporting by Scott Davidson, South Bend Tribune / South Bend Tribune
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
