TRAFALGAR — Cara Steele described the scene along the first-base line as chaotic. The New Palestine junior was enveloped in a mass of red jerseys as she tried making her way back to the dugout before giving up and hitting the deck.
“Everyone was just pushing me,” Steele said. “I decided maybe going on the ground was the best move there, because — you know.”
Among those pushing No. 16 around was senior pitcher Sadey Hughbanks, who ran around the mini-mosh pit to tag her teammate.
“If you can’t tell, we all really love Cara and pushing her might be the most fun part,” junior third baseman Payton Dye grinned.
“Yeah, truly,” Hughbanks laughed.
The celebration was certainly well-warranted.
Steele was moments removed from delivering her biggest hit in the Dragons’ biggest moment to date: A two-out, two-strike, seventh-inning grand slam that broke a 3-all tie and sent her side to a 7-4 win over Indian Creek in the Class 3A Sectional 28 quarterfinals.
Steele struck out with a chance to break the tie in the fifth, whiffing on a nasty changeup from Delaney Jones.
Steele was ready when the senior Belmont signee went back to the pitch with two strikes in the seventh. She successfully fouled it off, then hit the next pitch directly into the winds blowing in from left.
The Indian Creek outfielder appeared to have a play on it, coach Ed Marcum observed, but the ball kept carrying, clearing the wall with room to spare.
“That was quite a shot,” he continued. “I was pretty excited when it went over.”
“We’ve talked all season about people coming through in big moments. … And Cara found that spark,” Hughbanks said of Steele, who finished 2-for-3 with two homers and five RBIs. “We’re all there for her. We all hype her up. We obviously pushed her around after the home run. It’s just amazing.”
That spark proved to be elusive through most of the first six innings with uncharacteristic fielding errors and uninspired situational hitting resulting in a 3-1 deficit through four innings.
“We were leaving runners on in big situations. We had some strikeouts there when we just needed to put the ball in play,” Marcum said. “And their shortstop (Jada Shepherd) kept making incredible play after incredible play — she had those two plays on good hit balls up the middle.”
“We just need to make sure we understand the score and understand the game,” he continued. “But that was a good win to battle through those types of things.”
There were positives at the plate. Steele opened the scoring in the second inning with a solo homer, Dye went 4-for-4 with a couple runs scored, Saydie Miller delivered two hits, two runs and an RBI, and Callie Cromwell notched two hits, as well.
But the Dragons also struck out nine times and failed to capitalize with runners on in six of seven innings.
The defense behind Hughbanks was suspect, as well, committing four errors, including a two-run error that gave Indian Creek a 3-1 lead in the third.
“Our shortstop after one of those mishaps early in the game came up and was trying to talk to Sadey,” Dye said. “I was like, ‘Hey, let her be. She’s about to K this girl. Just trust.'”
Hughbanks got the next batter on four pitches.
“I get a little ‘aw man, we need to have those,’ but then I realize we’re good. We will fight back,” said the Marian signee, who allowed one earned run on seven hits with four strikeouts. “I try to stay calm in those moments and work for myself if those do go wrong.”
“She was huge today,” Marcum said of Hughbanks. “We didn’t play normal Dragon defense today. I think the pressure of the moment, sometimes you try to do too much and I think that’s what we were trying to do there. We’ll be OK. We’ll figure it out for tomorrow and be ready to go.”
New Palestine (19-7) will face Roncalli in the sectional semifinals.
Indian Creek finishes the season 21-7.
Roncalli 16, Beech Grove 0 (5 inn.)
Roncalli rolled to a five-inning win over Beech Grove in its quarterfinal.
The Royals, who escaped with a 7-4 win over the Hornets at the Marion County tournament earlier this month, plated four runs in the first and nine more in the second. Jazlyn Lawson and Sarah Hofmann both drove in runs with first-inning doubles, then the second-inning surge featured scoring contributions from Morgan Curtis, Brooke Wolford (home run), Elise Baker, Maggie Thorne and Leffler.
Curtis and Wolford both notched three RBIs, while Lawson and Nora Stafford both drove in a pair. Baker (3), Thorne, Curtis and Stafford all made multiple contributions to the Royals’ hit total (16).
Kayla Brewer and Lauryn Annee handled pitching duties, allowing just two hits with eight strikeouts (seven by Brewer).
Harper Moore and Jalyn Jordan both tallied hits for Beech Grove, which finishes the season 9-19.
Follow Brian Haenchen on Twitter at @Brian_Haenchen. Get IndyStar’s high school coverage sent directly to your inbox with the High School Sports newsletter.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: ‘Cara found that spark’: Steele’s slam sends New Palestine to sectional semis
Reporting by Brian Haenchen, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
