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Hawks celebrate in style
Updated: May 14, 2011 11:01PM
LACROSSE — The physical aptitude of the girls was pretty impressive. Almost 12 hours in the cold weather couldn’t dampen their energy.
Following their win in the Porter County Conference softball tournament championship, a 15-4 rout of South Central, the Hebron players dropped to the wet mud for celebratory push-ups.
After each one, the Hawks spelled out a letter until P-C-C C-H-A-M-P-S was complete.
“These girls, I can’t say enough about them,” an excited Hebron coach Mike McLindon said. “They’ve worked so, so hard.”
And as abnormal as hitting the dirt might appear on a day which easily resembled the briskness of fall, it made perfect sense.
For starters, Hebron (16-4, 7-0), led by a first-year coach, is in the midst of a very compelling campaign. This showed in the bottom of the first inning of the final.
The Hawks wasted no time in scoring five runs on six hits. Two-thirds of the way through that inning, Satellites (13-9, 5-2) starter Madisyn Walter was pulled from the circle. But the damage was done when freshman Rachel Pauer singled off reliever Haley Bauer to drive in what turned out to be the game-winner.
Hawks pitcher Mollie Lindeman allowed two hits and two runs (one unearned) to South Central in the top of the third, but they could never gain traction.
The junior tossed all six innings, allowing three earned runs on six hits with six strikeouts.
It was a challenge for the Satellites to see the quick-paced pitching in the championship, said coach Richard Patterson.
“When you play against some of the (PCC) teams, with the weaker pitching you don’t get to see some of the strong pitching,” he said.
And the Hawks, who cruised past Kouts 14-4 in their first game, saw their confidence grow after each early contest.
Out of the last 10 years of the tourney, Hanover Central had grabbed nine crowns, including last year’s. So it was a definitive moment when Hebron shut out the Wildcats (who defeated LaCrosse 14-1 in their first game) 5-0 in the semifinal.
It marks the first time since 2005 that Hebron has hoisted the PCC Tournament trophy.
A big part of the success was Alyssa Spore, who went 7-for-10 on Saturday, including 4-for-4 with a double and an RBI against South Central (which beat Washington Township 7-2 and Boone Grove 18-7 earlier in the day). Spore also scored all seven times she reached base.
“I just didn’t think as much when I got to the plate,” she said. “I think we were just worried about pounding on (South Central), just giving them a beating.”
After winning all 10 conference games, the tourney and the round robin, the senior showed her level of excitement.
“It feels freaking amazing,” she said.
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