Shelbyville softball's offense sputters in 4-0 sectional loss to Columbus North

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COLUMBUS – Shelbyville’s inability to score runs late in the season carried into the postseason and, ultimately, denied the program a third-straight sectional title.

Columbus North starting pitcher Bailee Scruggs scattered seven hits and two walks and kept denying the Golden Bears in scoring opportunities to get her team a 4-0 victory Monday in the Class 4A, Sectional 14 quarterfinal game at Columbus East.

Shelbyville (15-11) was 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position and suffered its third consecutive shutout to end the season.

“I feel like we outhit them and Cheyenne struck most of them out but we can’t string together hits and can’t win,” said first-year Shelbyville head coach Megan Leffler.

All four Columbus North runs came on two-out hits off Shelbyville pitcher Cheyenne Eads, who allowed seven hits in her final game as a Golden Bear. The University of Indianapolis commit had 16 strikeouts to push her record-setting career total to 648.

“She is probably the best two-way player we’ve ever hard,” said Leffler of Eads as a pitcher and a hitter. “She is the most dominant. She has carried this team all season. She’s been our No. 1 and go-to kid.

“We put her in the leadoff spot (earlier this season) because we tried some different things and we thought she handled it the best.”

Eads led the Golden Bears this season with a .457 batting average, a team-high 10 doubles, tied for a team-high six home runs, and a team-high 27 runs scored.

Columbus North (13-11) broke through first in the pitcher’s duel Monday when leadoff hitter Kelcey Lovelace singled and scored on Scruggs’ two-out single for a 1-0 lead.

In the fifth, Alexis Wooten and Destinee Allen reached on back-to-back singles. Following a sacrifice bunt by Morgan Jarvis, Lovelace ripped a pitch to center field scoring two. Payton Morris followed with the fourth hit of the inning to score Lovelace and extend the lead to 4-0.

The Golden Bears had at least one runner in scoring position off Scruggs in five of the seven innings Monday but could not produce a run. In its final five games of the season, Shelbyville hit .138 (11 for 116).

Senior Kenna Clark was the only Golden Bear with two hits in the loss.

Shelbyville graduates four seniors from a program that finished the season with just 12 players and no junior varsity squad.

“We are hoping to have a lot of eighth graders coming in,” said Leffler. “We are going to hit the weight room hard, work on speed and agility and try to get stronger and faster.”

After winning four titles in Class 4A, Sectional 14 since 2017, the Golden Bears will drop down to Class 3A for the 2025 season. The new sectional alignment has not yet been released by the Indiana High School Athletic Association.

As in years past, the softball sectional alignment will likely mirror the volleyball and basketball groupings which now includes Shelbyville with Beech Grove, Greenwood, Indian Creek, New Palestine, Roncalli and Rushville.

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