Phone: 317-846-6601 Fax: 317-575-4244 Website: www.ihsaa.org
Blake Ress, Commissioner
_________________________________________________________________________
June 13, 2009
CENTER GROVE CLAIMS RECORD
FIFTH SOFTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
Center
Grove (33-3) scored the only runs it would need in the third inning and claimed
its record fifth state championship with a 2-0 victory over Harrison (West
Lafayette) in the Class 4A final game at Ben Davis High School in Indianapolis.
It was the
third state title of the school year and 10th overall for Center Grove building
on its boys tennis and Class 5A football championships
won last fall. The Trojans won previous softball titles in 1986, 1995, 1998
(3A) and 2003 (3A). Eighteenth-year head coach Russ Milligan was the leader for
the most recent four.
Sydney
Miller’s double to left field in the bottom of the third scored Sarah Alberico from third base for the Trojans’ first run. Alberico had doubled to lead off the third inning and moved
to third base on a wild pitch. Shelby Miller pinch ran for Sydney and one out
later scored Center Grove’s second run on Emily Gwaltney’s
single to right. Alberico and Katherine Belsite both went 2-for-3 in the game.
Unranked Harrison
(25-8), which was playing in its first state finals tournament in 20 years, threatened
to open the scoring in the second inning but stranded runners at second and
third. Morgan Stephens picked up Harrison’s lone base hit in the fourth
inning lining a single down the left field line. Abby Willis, in her fifth
season, coached the Raiders.
Sarah
Franklin (15-2) gave up one hit over five innings in the circle for Center
Grove before giving way to Gwaltney who fanned five of the seven batters she
faced.
It was the ninth
championship game appearance for fourth-ranked Center Grove, which bested
unranked Lowell, 2-1, in eight innings in Friday’s semifinals. Harrison took
down Floyd Central, 5-1, in the other Friday game to earn its spot in its first
state championship contest.
brittany mills of floyd central named Mental
Attitude Award winner
Brittany
Mills of Floyd Central High School was recognized by members of the IHSAA
Executive Committee as this year’s recipient of the Mental Attitude Award
in Class 4A softball.
Mills is
the valedictorian of her senior class, carried a 4.00 GPA, and scored an
impressive 2000 on her SAT. She is a
member of the National Honor Society, S.T.A.N.D Club, Interact Club, and
Spanish Club treasurer.
In the
fall,
She is the
daughter of Houston Mills.
Indiana
Farm Bureau Insurance, the corporate partner of the IHSAA, presented a $1,000
scholarship to
VSN MEANS ACTION PHOTOGRAPHY
Visit our
friends at Visual Sports Network, the IHSAA’s official photographer for all state
championship events and one of the leading action photographers in the