Regional Champions.
The North Newton Spartans softball team reached that honor June 3 in a 4-0 victory over Westville.
The team now face Riverton Parke in semi state action.
According to information provided, in the June 3 game, Sydney Rainford struck out 12 batters, allowed three hits, no runs and no walks in seven innings.
Rainford also contributed with a solo home run in the top of the seventh inning, she also stole two bases during the game. She and Paige Culbreth each drove in one run. June Busboy was 2-for-3 at the plate. Rylynn Klemz led the team in plays with 13 during the game.
The team has had a phenomenal season. Coach Katherine Messersmith said the girls have worked hard all year.
“We have rostered 14 girls on the team and each one of those 14 girls provides a different strength. Obviously you only have nine on the field at one time but those five who are not playing, they bring a lot to the table, too.
The Spartans were conference champs in the Midwest Conference, which as seven teams, and the Spartans went 7-0 in the conference. They beat DeMotte Christian 14-2, Frontier 19-2, Faith Christian 13-0, North White 8-1, Tri-County 10-0, South Newton 2-0, West Central 3-0.
“Before the season started I got with the girls and we talked bout individual goals, team goals and stuff like that. Everyone one of their first team goals was to be conference champions, so we successfully did that on May 23. That was the Friday before sectionals. Then we had the weekend and played Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. We actually got to see North White again in the first game of the sectionals. We knew they were going to be tough. We had seen them in the season. They had seen a little bit of us and how to prepare for us and stuff like that. “Sydney, I believe had 17 strikeouts that game, the first game of sectionals. Then we played Pioneer. We don’t play them in the regular season. Gabby Thomas is a great coach. She does fundamentals with her team. So we did what we could to prepare for them and we beat them 7-0, which advanced us to the sectional championship against Tri-County, which is key again, because Tri-County placed second in the conference. We had beat them 10-0 in the regular seasons. We had a feeling we would see them in the sectional championship and that’s what happened.
“So it was two great teams going at it for the sectional championship. It actually went to eight exciting innings. Both teams had fans from the left field line to the right field line. It was packed. It was a great game. We did end up getting some hits in the last inning. We did bunt the ball to move our runners and that gave us the two runs. That ultimately got us the sectional championship with our defense. Sydney Rainford also hit her 1,000th strikeouts, which was huge in a sectional championship, so that was a pretty big deal.
Going into the Westville game, North Newton was 20-3-1 on the year and Westville was 19-5.
“The season has gone really well,” Messersmith said. “They’ve really bought in to the whole season, starting in August and September, just getting into the weight room, stuff like that. They’ve built a new culture in the softball program and that’s what me and my assistants have wanted to do from the beginning, is have the buy in and they show up every day and are ready to work and ready to learn. It’s been a great season.”
Messersmith said there are four starting freshmen and they have played huge roles.
One of those is Rylynn Klemz, who is the starting catcher. “When you ultimately have a Division I pitcher, she’s had a pretty big role this season and she hasn’t had a single error yet in 24 games. She’s really impressive. Fun to watch.”
Rainford is ranked in Indiana in several stats: 1 in batters struck out with 317, and 2 in earned run average with 0.42. She is sixth in wins with 18. Klemz is 1 in fielding percentage.
Other stats: Batting average — Rainford, 0.462, Caylee Oxley, 0.375, June Busboom, 0.329; on base percentage — Oxley, 0.551, Rainford, 0.538, Riley Higgins, 0.488; homers — Rainford, 3, Oxley, 2, Higgins, 1; stolen base — Oxley, 25, Rainford, 25, Busboom, 22; runs — Oxley, 36,k Rainford, 25, Higgins, 25; Hits — Rainford, 36, Klemz, 26, Oxley, 24; runs batted in — Klemz, 28, Busboom, 28, Rainfordr, 18.
The roster includes: Caylee Oxley, Riley Higgins, Dakota Dyer, June Busboom, Kaylynn Dyer, Addison Culbreth, Callie Williams, Paige Culbreth, Tatum Cahill, Rylynn Klemz, Brynn Christenson, Sydney Rainford, Aubrey Eller, Macy Busboom, Jenna Bijak and Brianna Anderson.