NEW PALESTINE — Columbus East pitcher Jordan Johnston kept the New Palestine offense off-balance through three innings Monday, holding the high-powered Dragons offense to just one run and a handful of hits.
That was as long as the junior could keep the New Palestine offense contained.
Behind a strong pitching and defensive performance, the hosts started to pull away in the latter innings, and the Class 3A No. 1 Dragons topped the visiting Olympians 5-1.
“Real proud of the effort, real proud of what we did,” East coach Rusty Brummett said. “We talked to ‘em about being happy with the game, because that’s a good ballclub. You look at the banners they’ve got hanging, back-to-back state champs in 3A. Be happy with where we are, but don’t be satisfied. We did a nice job, but we put a couple more balls in play, put a little more pressure on, you never know.
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New Palestine took the lead in the second after a Lexi Campbell leadoff single and an RBI-double from starting pitcher Sam Booe. That was all the Dragons offense would muster in the first half of the game.
The Olympians tied things with a solo home run from Jenna Robbins in the fourth, but that’s when the Dragons finally figured out Johnston.
New Palestine pushed across two runs in the fourth and two in the fifth, racking up six hits in those two innings.
East had two innings — the first and seventh — where it had two runners on base with a chance to push across more runs, but Dragons’ pitching limited the damage to just the Robbins home run.
Still, the Olympians were in the game until the end, thanks to strong pitching and defense of their own. Johnston went the distance for East, allowing the five runs on 10 hits. She walked one and hit one batter.
“She’s doing a great job of missing off of the plate. If you miss over the plate with this team, it’s going to get ugly quick,” Brummett said. “She did a nice job of hitting her spots, and when she did miss — there were a couple — they were off the plate, low and away, low and in. We kind of kept them guessing.”
The Olympians finished with five hits, with Robbins driving in the only run on her homer. Mady Foster, Johnston, Katie Taylor and Brooke Valles each singled.
It was the fifth straight loss for East (2-6) after a 2-1 start to the season. The Dragons move to 4-0 with the win, their 24th straight dating back to last season.
“There is no consolation. Nobody wants to be second-best,” Brummett said. “But when you take this team and you hold them to five runs, and you’ve got people on base in several innings, you’re doing something right. Your program is doing something right.”
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New Palestine 5, Columbus East 1
CE (2-6);000;100;0;—;1;5;0
NP (4-0);010;220;X;—;5;10;1
WP: Sam Booe. LP: Jordan Johnston.
HR: Jenna Robbins (CE). 2B: Michaela Jones, Kendal Calvert, Booe (NP); RBI: Booe 2, K. Calvert, Jaylin Calvert, Emma Tucher (NP); Robbins (CE)
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