North softball coach to host webinar

Ron McDonald

Columbus North softball coach Ron McDonald has enjoyed plenty of success in his tenure as Columbus North softball coach, and a national company has taken notice.

BSN Sports has enlisted McDonald to host a webinar. The webinar, titled “Gaining a Competitive Edge: How to build a successful high school program” will be broadcast from 1 to 2 p.m. today.

“I just feel honored that they asked me,” McDonald said. “It’s great company for me to be in and get a chance to talk.”

McDonald coached three years at Brown County and the past six years at Columbus North. In five seasons (spring sports were canceled in 2020 because of the COVID pandemic), McDonald has led the Bull Dogs to two sectional and one regional title.

Those came after going 1-25 in 2017, his first season at North.

“It’s going to be kind of neat. I’ve had a lot of coaches ask me, ‘What did we do. How did we do it? How did we turn it around so fast? And that’s what I’m going to talk about it, and of course, I didn’t do it all by myself. It’s been all the coaches and the players that I’ve coached. I’m going to talk about how to try to maintain that level.”

McDonald also will talk about the differences between being in a one-high school system in Brown County and a two-high school setup in Columbus.

“At Columbus North, it’s a different situation,” McDonald said. “Here, you can go to either school (North or Columbus East), so you don’t have a farm system like you did at Brown County. You have to attract students and players to come to your school.”

The webinar is free. To register for the program, contact Alan Hess at [email protected] or visit [email protected]

Zohrlaut headed to IUPUC

Jennings County senior Lane Zohrlaut has committed to continue his baseball career at IUPUC.

Zohrlaut batted .288 with six doubles and 14 RBIs this spring for the Panthers, who went 18-11.

Matern commits to Marian

Jennings County junior Kenzie Matern has committed to continue her softball career at Marian University.

Matern batted .361 with four home runs and 12 RBIs this spring. She also was the Panthers’ No. 1 pitcher.

Volleyball draw set for Sunday

The IHSAA will conduct its postseason volleyball draw beginning at 7 p.m. Sunday.

The football draw will start at 5 p.m. Oct. 9. Both draws will be livestreamed at ihsaatv.org

Ted Schultz is sports editor for The Republic. He can be reached at [email protected] or 812-379-5628.