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Center Grove softball will 'sleep at night knowing we gave it everything we had' in 4A state final
WEST LAFAYETTE – Center Gove kept doing the right things in Saturday's Class 4A state championship game vs. Crown Point. There were the series of sure-handed plays behind starting pitcher Riley Fuhr, who was perfect in her five innings of work; the way they battled at the plate, coming back from multiple 0-1 and 0-2 counts against Crown Point ace Paige Liezert; center fielder Mae Munson's ninth-inning throws to third and home — the list goes on.
"We'll sleep at night knowing we gave it everything we had," coach Alyssa Coleman said.
Unfortunately for the Trojans, not enough breaks went their way.
Liezert stranded the bases loaded and maintained the scoreless stalemate in the bottom of the eighth with her 15th strikeout of the game.
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Both of Munson's throws to third and home were on target, but on both occasions, Lexi Smith jarred the ball loose (unintentionally) as she slid into the fielder's tag.
The umpire was ready to emphatically call Smith out at the plate, but had to quickly change course when the ball popped free. "The more I turned, the more she pushed it out and it just fell out of my glove," senior catcher Madisyn Tharpe said.
Crown Point added another run in the ninth, then Liezert worked around a two-out double to complete the four-hit shutout of Center Grove and secure the Bulldogs' first state championship since 2017.
Final score: 2-0.
"This group's been great. They know each other. They respond to each other. And they did a really great job of picking each other up (during the game)," Coleman said. "That's how we've gotten here. It hasn't been the coaches pushing something. The girls have just molded together. It's been a lot of fun to watch."
No single play defined Saturday's game, the first inning of which took place Friday before inclement weather forced play to be suspended.
Liezert was unbelievable. A dazzling flourish to her breakout junior campaign, she scattered four hits across nine innings, totaling 16 strikeouts, issuing only two walks and throwing 103 of her 158 pitches for strikes.
The Trojans — who made solid contact on only a handful of occasions — loaded the bases in the third and eighth innings, but were unable to come through.
They finished with seven runners left on base.
"She had a very good pitch sequence," said senior first baseman Sydney Herrmann, the 4A Mental Attitude Award recipient. "She was keeping us off-balance with the rise ball and she was also getting that river pitch (pitches off the plate), which was hard for us to barrel up to."
Leizert said her rise ball is her best pitch, then mixed in her changeup — "It showed up today," she noted — to further keep CG off-balance at the plate. "And then just trusting coach Angie (Richwalski) with her scouting report, knowing the weaknesses in their swings and knowing where I have to pitch the ball," she continued. "That helped keep me at ease."
Just as no single play defined the final score, the heartbreaking finish will not define Center Grove's 2025 campaign.
This year's team was responsible for securing the softball powerhouse's first state finals berth since 2019 and 14th overall, winning 20 games against an absolutely loaded schedule, then navigating a postseason path that began with a run-rule win over Decatur Central, then continued with wins over Franklin Central, Avon, Terre Haute North and Floyd Central.
This group got closer as the season progressed, Munson said, calling it the seniors' favorite season. "Best teammates, best bonds, best everything," she smiled.
'This team has had so much great chemistry and love for each other," Herrmann said as she fought back tears. "That's what I'll always remember.'
'This team, it just makes me feel at home," Munson added. "I feel like I have peace with myself, just being around everybody. I can count on everyone to be there for me if I need it, every single person. Even the coaches, too. … When it comes down to it, especially personally and not just softball, they're my best friends, too.'
The seniors — Munson, Tharpe, Herrmann, Addison Richards, Hayden Baird, Brooke Carlson and Ana Powell — were responsible for maintaining the impossibly high standard of Center Grove softball during their four seasons, guiding the program to 91 wins, a state runner-up finish and last year's run to the semistate finals.
"They're amazing, aren't they?" Coleman said. "I couldn't ask for a more enjoyable year with them, just watching them evolve, work together and lead the way they did — I mean, truly, we got here. This is an accomplishment. It stings right now, but there's so much to be proud of."
Asked what it has meant to be part of this program, Herrmann said no team has ever pushed her more to be a leader or a better athlete or a better person. "This team has shown so much love and support to all of us. It truly just means the world to us."
"This has been such a memorable time in our lives," Tharpe smiled.
