The Central Buckeye Conference Mad River division softball championship trophy for 2023 will be residing at Indian Lake.
The Lady Lakers clinched the outright Mad River title by rolling to a 21-1 five-inning win over host Urbana on Monday in the final league game of the season.
“The team had many goals that we discussed at the beginning of the season,” said first-year head coach John Stahl, who previously was a head coach at Benjamin Logan. “One was trust and each other and the coaches. Building team chemistry and unity was a high priority. Winning the CBC was one of our three main goals. Winning the sectional and district were the other two goals.
“I’m blessed to have the opportunity to be at Indian Lake and coach this amazing group of players. My two assistant coaches Clint Zedeker and Paula Newland have been very instrumental in creating a positive attitude which has helped the team compete at a very high level.”
The Lakers are now 20-2 overall and finish CBC play at 14-2. Indian Lake finished one game ahead of North Union in the Mad River division standings.
Urbana falls to 2-18, 0-16.
After scoring one run in the first inning, the Lakers crossed home plate 10 times in the second frame for an 11-0 lead.
The Lakers scored another run in the third, eight in the fourth and one in the fifth.
Urbana scored its lone run in the bottom of the fourth.
Madison Brentlinger and Carmyn Weiner combined on a two-hitter in the pitching circle for the Lakers.
Indian Lake’s offense piled up 17 hits.
Haylee Edwards went 3-4 with a double and two RBI, Mackenzie Dixon went 3-5 with a double and four RBI and Halle Roby went 3-4 with a double and four RBI to spark the Lakers’ hitting attack.
Also for the Lakers, Brentlinger had two RBI, Porscha Davis went 2-4 with a double and three RBI, Hannah Marlow went 2-3 with an RBI and Weiner added a a double.
The Lakers will enter sectional tournament action Wednesday at home against Preble Shawnee or Northridge.
“We are looking forward to keeping it rolling Wednesday in the sectional final,” added Stahl.
INDIAN LAKE 21, URBANA 1
(FIVE INNINGS)
Lakers. 1(10)1 81 — 21 17 0
Hillclimbers. 000 10 — 1 2 4
WP—Brentlinger; LP—Hill.