Published: June 13, 2009 12:09 am         

Linton softball meets Madison-Grant today for Class 2A trophy

INDIANAPOLIS — Ask 100 people in Linton to tell you the sport in which the Miners will win their first Indiana high school state championship, and probably about 99 of them will say football.

That number would not include Jill Flater and her Miner softball team, of course, which will play for the Class 2A championship at 1:30 p.m. today at Ben Davis — thanks to a display of toughness that would do the football team proud.

The Miners’ 5-2 semifinal win Friday night over Wheeler was looking like a sure thing for awhile. After knocking on the door for four innings against Bearcat ace pitcher Lanay Parks — who had given up just one earned run the entire season — Linton exploded for five two-out runs in the top of the fifth.

Since Linton pitcher Stephanie Fougerousse was working on a perfect game at the time, the last two and one-half innings were easy, right?

Well, that’s where the toughness came in.

Fougerousse walked Parks to lead off the bottom of the fifth inning, the first Wheeler baserunner. Then came an opposite-field hit, a sacrifice bunt, a two-out walk and a two-run infield single by ninth batter Meghan Zappia. Wheeler’s leadoff batter Kylie Planck, whose .433 batting average was the best on both teams, was at the plate representing the tying run — and the pitches were piling up for Fougerousse.

Planck finally hit the ball back to Fougerousse, who made a back-hand stop and threw to Izzy Carpenter at first base just in time to retire Planck and just ahead of a collision between her and Carpenter.

But as the Miners batted in the top of the sixth, Fougerousse was in tears — which Greene County sports fans know means one thing: back spasms.

“The longer I’m up pitching, the more [the spasms] are going to happen,” she said after the game, bemoaning the two walks that lengthened the inning. “It comes and goes — but when it starts spasming it’s horrible.”

Flater said after Fougerousse made her way wincing through the last two innings that a relief pitcher probably wasn’t an option.

“Not really too seriously,” the coach said when asked if such a thing had been considered. “She’s determined; there’s no way she was coming out.”

“She still throws hard [when her back hurts],” said Linton catcher Hali Murray, “but it’s a little more of a struggle hitting her spots. But she always comes out [to the circle] for us. Always.”

Third baseman Jenica Ringo might have been the relief pitcher in question.

“That thought was going through my head,” Ringo admitted afterward, “and I thought, ‘Oh crap, I didn’t warm up [to pitch].’ But I knew Stephanie would come through it. She’s a fighter.”

The Miners did some fighting offensively too. They had baserunners in each of the first four innings, and wasted a two-hit, two-walk third frame thanks to an out recorded when a Miner stepped off base — third base, in fact — with Parks in possession of the ball in the circle.

Darien Huffman singled with one out in the fifth, and Fougerousse followed with a shot up the middle; when the hit was misplayed in the outfield, the Miners had runners at second and third.

Parks got the second out with a strikeout, then walked Carpenter to load the bases. Murray, with a hit earlier in the game, worked her way to a full count even though the Wheeler players asked to appeal her checked swing on each of the three balls.

“I was trying not to think,” Murray said later in recalling that time at bat. “That’s what my dad says, ‘Just go up there and hit the ball.’”

Murray — and the first-base umpire — thought she’d checked her swing all three times, but she admitted, “That was scary, looking at that ump out there.”

The full-count pitch was on the inside corner, and Murray was looking outside. But she hit the ball off the handle over the shortstop’s head for a two-run single.

“I got lucky; [Parks] had me tricked,” Murray said.

Ringo followed, and grounded a single through the right side for two more runs. “It felt pretty good,” she said later. “At first [tonight] I struggled, but it helped when Hali opened it up. I told myself I could do it.”

“It doesn’t matter where we start in the lineup, or in what inning,” said Flater, whose team completed its rally with a run-scoring single by Katie West. “We knew [Parks] was a good pitcher, but we see a good pitcher of our own every single day. [The Miners] were ready to go tonight.”

“That helps a bunch [seeing Fougerousse in batting practice],” Murray agreed.

As the Miners prepare for today’s championship game, feverish work will be done to get Fougerousse as close to 100 percent as possible.

“I always deal with [the pain],” the pitcher said. “It’s always there ... I’ll ice it all night, and pray to God it’s not spasming [today].”

“She’ll be ready to go,” Flater predicted. “She’ll fight through it.

“These girls came here with one thought in mind, and they’re going to get the job done.”

“This has been a dream,” said Ringo. “I’ve played with most of [the Miners] since I was a little girl. It’s really exciting. I’m ecstatic.”



Linton 5, Wheeler 2

Linton ab r h bi Wheeler ab r h bi

Mason 2b 3 0 1 0 Planck 3b 3 0 0 0

Huffman cf 3 1 1 0 Marcotte lf 3 0 0 0

Fougerousse p 3 1 1 0 Medina ss 3 0 0 0

Church lf 3 0 0 0 Parks p 1 1 0 0

Carpenter 1b 3 1 0 0 Fraley cf 3 1 1 0

Murray c 4 1 2 2 Farlow 1b 2 0 0 0

Ringo 3b 3 1 1 2 Simatovich 2b 3 0 0 0

West rf 2 0 1 1 Herzog c 2 0 0 0

Butt ss 3 0 1 0 Zappia rf 3 0 1 2

Totals 27 5 8 5 Totals 23 2 2 2

Linton 000 050 0 -- 5

Wheeler 000 020 0 -- 2

E -- Fraley, Marcotte, Farlow, Murray. LOB -- Linton 7, Wheeler 4. 2B -- Butt. SB -- Jackson (Linton courtesy runner). SH -- Huffman, Farlow.

IP H R ER BB SO

Linton

Fougerousse (W, 17-1) 7 2 2 2 3 9

Wheeler

Parks (L, 20-2) 7 8 5 4 4 12

HBP -- by Parks (Mason). T -- 1:48.

Next -- Linton (21-5) plays Madison-Grant (24-6) at 1:30 p.m. today at Ben Davis for the Class 2A state championship. Wheeler finished 27-3.