Stiff tests await White County softball squads in postseason

Frontier

Frontier’s varsity softball team will look to continue their resurgence of a season after being led to their best record since 2019 under second year head coach Shailen Johnson in 6-17 while placing fifth in the Midwest Conference, (2-4).

To stay alive and continue pushing the envelope, however, the Falcons will face off against the winner of Clinton Central and No. 3 in Class A Rossville after drawing a first round bye.

Both Central and Rossville have made their claims to fame this season off of the backs of strong pitching from CC’s Landree Whiteman and Hornets 2022 All State nominee Avery Layton.

Pitching prowess aside, Frontier’s has had the hitters to keep them in games this season with averages greater than .412 from Ellie Culver, Kasee Anderson and Emma Sorensen.

Anderson has led the pitching unit with the lowest earned run average (ERA) this season while Alexis Johnson leads the rotation of three arms with 73 strikeouts from the bump.

North White

For North White’s varsity softball team, it will be an uphill battle from the start when they begin their postseason quest against No. 11 in Class A foe, West Central.

The Vikings go into sectional 52 with a record of 2-14 while dropping their last five games in a row.

Batting .233 as a team, North White is led by freshman Melanie Crawford (.348) while Kaylyn Applegate is hitting .341 in her sophomore campaign.

Applegate also has come forward as the Viking’s ace with 84 strikeouts thrown this year.

On the opposing side, West Central tallies three players with a batting average of .464 or batter while both of their pitchers in Jalie Glasford and Jaden Erb pitch ERAs of 2.80 and 2.61 respectively.

Tri-County

Winners of their last three, two of which came by way of double digit shutouts, Tri-County looks to continue to keep the bats moving in their semifinal bout against Faith Christian in sectional 53.

The Cavs go into the postseason with an 11-0 victory over Faith Christian in their penultimate matchup of the regular season.

In their rout, they put six runs on the board in the third inning alone while Grace Luck threw a no hitter along with her two runs batted in.

Luck leads the team in the batter’s box with an average of .531 while Bella Dominguez hits .469.

On the pitcher’s mound, the Cavs are backed by their two headed monster of Luck (.60 ERA) and Maddi Nevitt (3.11 ERA). The two leaders from the bump have combined for just less than 150 strikeouts this season.

Twin Lakes

Twin Lake’s varsity softball team goes into sectional play with an overall record of 6-19 after dropping their last two contests to McCutcheon and Lafayette Jeff.

But, while their ’23 campaign has been littered with top tier competition, the postseason doesn’t get any easier for the Indians as they go into sectional 18 with top 15 ranked opponents in West Lafayette and Western.

For Twin Lakes, however, they will open sectionals with first round opponent North Montgomery (9-16), a Chargers team that hits .301 and doesn’t have a pitcher on staff that throws an ERA of 10.46 or less.

Kaitlyn Whitaker leads all TL batters with an average of .394 while McKenna Wilson throws a 3.94 ERA from the mound and has recorded 134 strikeouts this season.