Winamac’s Hall homers, goes 4 for 4, pitches complete game in win over Culver

Keller also homers; Molebash, Milam homer for Lady Cavs

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

Adrianna Hall Maggie Keller

CULVER — Maggie Keller and Adrianna Hall hit back-to-back homers as part of a four-run first inning, and Hall struck out 11 batters in the circle to lead the Winamac softball team to an 11-3 win over host Culver at Cavalier Park Monday.

Winamac clinched a share of the Hoosier North title and improved to 17-2 overall and 6-0 in the Hoosier North. Culver fell to 13-5 and completed conference play 6-2.

Winamac can clinch the conference title outright with a win over Triton Tuesday or a win over North Miami Thursday. If Winamac loses their final two conference games, Culver would get a share, and the door would open for Pioneer (5-2) and North Judson (4-2) to get a share.

Hall went 4 for 4 at the plate, and Keller and Corinne Ulerick each had two hits and two RBIs. Leadoff hitter Makayla Werner had two hits and two runs scored.

Brooke Rausch

Grace Roth, Brooke Rausch, Brody Goodman and Kylie Fisher added one hit each.

Aiden Molebash and Gracie Milam both hit homers for Culver, but the Lady Cavaliers committed seven errors while Winamac had none.

Abigayle Zehner and Molebash had two hits each for Culver. Milam, Brianna Schlemmer, Maddie Kitts and Hayden Lute had one hit each.

Werner led off the game with a double and stole third and scored ahead of Keller’s two=run blast.

Hall followed with a bomb to deep left.

Hall said she never goes up to the plate trying to hit a homer.

“I’ve been trying to do some more drills off the tee and try to really focus on hitting the middle of the ball,” Hall said. “(Molebash) had good spin on the ball. Her change-up was really good.”

Rausch walked and later scored on an error to make it 4-0.

“I think it was really important,” Winamac coach Jennifer Belcher said of the good start. “To come over here and put some runs on the board early and kind of set the tone, I thought that was important for us to do.”

Roth led off the second with a single and went to second on a wild pitch. She later scored when Hall laced an RBI double.

Molebash bashed a two-run homer in the third to cut the deficit to 5-2.

Winamac responded with four runs in the fourth with help from four Culver errors. Two runs scored when Rausch reached on an error, and Ulerick capped the rally with a two-run double to make it 9-2.

Culver had two on with nobody out in the fourth but Hall wriggled out of trouble.

Milam hit her seventh homer of the season in the fifth, a solo shot just to the right of straightaway center.

Rausch made a standout defensive play at first base, making a lunging catch on Brooke Davis’ sinking popup with two on to retire the side in the sixth.

“That was awesome,” Belcher said. “That was big out for us too. So I just think it gave us some energy at that time.”

With that energy, Werner led off the seventh with a single, stole second, went to third on Roth’s fly out to center and scored when the throw to try and get her at third bounced away from the third baseman for an error.

Hall singled later in the inning and scored on an error.

Aiden Molebash Gracie Milam

Culver coach J.B. Overmyer praised Molebash afterwards.

“It’s kind of been our story the last week,” Overmyer said of the errors. “Just struggling with some errors here and there, and they’re scoring runs off them. It’s one thing to make an error when nobody’s on, but when there are runners at second and third, and you let one get under your glove, it’s runs scored. Aiden pitched a heck of a game, and we just didn’t have her back again.”

Winamac has won 16 consecutive conference games. Their last conference loss was a 10-0 loss to Caston on May 7, 2024.

“I knew it was going to be tough,” Overmyer said. “Winamac is really good. They’re a good hitting team. They don’t make errors like we do, and we were going to have to play a perfect game. I’m glad to see Aiden got a home run, and Gracie got another one, but those little errors kill us.”

Hall said her team’s success is due to a good memory.

“I think we really work together,” Hall said. “And when we get down, we try to fight back and really not worry about our mistakes and try to get the next one.”

Culver honored their seven seniors in pregame ceremonies. Hanne Dollevoet, a foreign exchange student from the Netherlands, was also recognized, and she got two at-bats later in the game.

Winamac 11, Culver 3

Winamac 410 400 2 – 11 14 0

Culver 002 010 0 – 3 8 7

WP – Adrianna Hall (7 IP, 8 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 2 HBP, 11 K)

LP – Aiden Molebash (7 IP, 14 H, 11 R, 4 ER, 3 BB, 1 HBP, 6 K)

2B – Corinne Ulerick (WIN), Adrianna Hall (WIN), Makayla Werner (WIN), Abigayle Zehner (CUL)

HR – Maggie Keller (WIN), Adrianna Hall (WIN), Aiden Molebash (CUL), Gracie Milam (CUL)