Defending state champion North Posey softball completes Class 2A sectional three-peat

FERDINAND, Ind. — Ashton Elpers wasn't thinking about hitting a walk-off.

The North Posey senior first baseman wanted to maintain confidence and keep the ball in play against Mater Dei in the Class 2A Sectional 48 championship. After fouling the first pitch and swinging and missing on the second, Elpers smacked the ball deep toward the left field fence.

The base hit secured her team another sectional championship.

IHSAA softball: Scores, schedule for sectionals across Southwestern Indiana

Defending state champion North Posey moves on to the regional following its 10-0 mercy rule victory Wednesday evening and completed its first sectional three-peat in program history. The Vikings have won three straight sectional games over Mater Dei, outscoring it 20-0 while totaling 40 strikeouts in the circle.

"This is awesome," Elpers said. "Anytime we get to play a school like that, it's just amazing to be able to beat them. That just gives us so much more confidence going into the regionals."

North Posey (18-7) took its lumps throughout the season. It suffered a mercy rule loss in its road opener, followed by its first loss to an in-state opponent in three years. Earlier this month, the Vikings dropped two critical Pocket Athletic Conference games, including an extra-innings loss on the road to Gibson Southern, the top-ranked team in Class 3A.

The Vikings knew they had a new team this year after perhaps the best player in program history graduated. They learned from the ups and downs.

"We're all really good friends, and we don't get mad at each other," senior catcher Sibyl Renshaw said. "We just stick together, think of the next game. We don't hang on things. We learn from it and move on."

After taking an early 1-0 lead, Renshaw hit a two-run bomb to right field to break the game open. She has totaled five hits and nine RBIs this postseason. Elpers and fellow seniors Addie Fullop and Jenna Wehmer also had multiple hits against and Fullop pitched a one-hit shutout in the circle.

IHSAA softball: With a new ace, defending state champ North Posey aims for more success in 2024

She has continued to grow confidence as the ace after Erin Hoehn, now at Michigan, held the role for the past few seasons.

"At the beginning of the year, I had a lot of pressure on me," Fullop said. "And I still do have a lot of pressure. But I've gotten way more comfortable being able to throw in a lot of games, a lot of tough games."

"Addie's a beast and she's such a competitor," Renshaw added. "She'll go out there and she'll be down 3-0 in the count, but then she'll come right back and strike a girl out. She's an awesome young lady."

North Posey will face No. 5 Sullivan in the regional on Tuesday in Poseyville. The Vikings ended the Golden Arrows' season in the regional last year when Wehmer hit a walk-off single in extras. Sullivan (25-4) has won its last 19 games.

Vikings coach Gary Gentil still sees room for improvement for this team. He thinks they can hit the ball better, despite collecting 12 of them on Wednesday.

"We don't want to fall into the category of going after non-strikes," Gentil said. "We work on that all the time and we'll continue doing that. Defensively, we've got to continue getting our communication down, and we'll keep working with the pitchers."

Despite the highs and lows, North Posey has made its name known in the Indiana high school softball landscape. Special players have been the centerpiece of a special time in this program with back-to-back-to-back sectional championships.

"They're all very, very sweet," Gentil said. "You never get tired of these. They knew going into the season, especially these seniors, that there's a lot of things that are going to be down this year. They worked very hard tonight."

This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: IHSAA softball: North Posey three-peats in Class 3A sectional