He threw a punch at the sky, when the buzzer finally sounded. Then he shouted. Then he leaped – no, bounded was more like it – into the arms of one his coaches, Paul Gunsett.There’s no pressure on the Bishop Luers softball team.
Or is there?
The Knights look to not only repeat a trip to the state finals but also try to follow in the footsteps of the school’s current state success after championships in football and boys basketball.
The Knights, 21-8-1 last season, lost 4-1 to Andrean in the state semifinals. But Luers returns its entire starting lineup, including sophomore pitcher Amy Morrison and her 20-6 record, and junior shortstop Kelsey Wyss and her .475 batting average. Wyss already has a state championship, being on the 2006 Luers girls basketball team that won the 3A state title.
“This experience is great for them,” Luers coach Jeff Doll said after last year’s state softball semifinal loss. “Nobody is leaving, and everybody is coming back.
“For us to get this experience for the first time, they understand what they need to do for (this) year.”
Helping the Knights’ chances of getting back to state is a drop to 2A from 3A this year. It certainly assisted the Knights in the boys basketball state finals in a 69-67 win over Winchester in the 2A state title game last month.
The football team beat Heritage Christian 21-6 at the RCA Dome in the 2A championship in November.
Getting back to the baseball state finals won’t be easy either for the two northeast Indiana teams that accomplished it last season.
Norwell went 35-0 and won the 3A state championship with a 5-0 win over Evansville Mater Dei. But the Knights graduated seven seniors off that team, including first-round Major League Baseball draft pick Jarrod Parker.
Parker, who was 11-0 and won Mr. Baseball honors, is now pitching for the Arizona Diamondbacks’ Single-A South Bend Silver Hawks, who play in the Midwest League with the Wizards.
Norwell does return two seniors in Central Michigan-bound Rhett Goodmiller at catcher and Ryan Otis at first base.
The other team, Heritage, made a surprising run to the 2A state championship game with wins over the top-two ranked teams in the semistate.
The Patriots (20-11) lost to South Spencer 13-0 in the state finals.
Despite a move to 3A this year, Heritage’s prospects of getting back to state appear better than Norwell’s with six starters returning.
The ACAC champions will be led by returning senior pitchers Zach Schroeder (9-2, 113 strikeouts) and Colton Hissong (6-2, 37 strikeouts).
gjones@jg.net
