A great ‘Day’ to be a Lady Viking: Bussard 15 Ks, 2 RBIs lifts Valley to sectional title

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

Dalynne Bussard Kaitlyn Threlkel Kahlyn Manns

Dalynne Bussard had already cemented herself as Valley’s all-time leader in strikeouts by a pitcher and hits by a batter.

Against Fairfield in the Class 3A, Sectional 20 final at NorthWood, she might have secured her legacy as Valley’s greatest winner.

Bussard pitched her third complete game in four days, a five-hitter with no walks and 15 strikeouts, and she went 3 for 3 at the plate, including a clutch two-run single in the fifth as the Lady Vikings beat the Lady Falcons 3-1.

Bussard gave up a homer to Preslee Caouette to lead off the seventh, but she came back to strike out Jayna Copen, Paige Park and pinch hitter Aubrey Ross to end the game and set off a celebration on the Field of Dreams Complex diamond.

Prior to Bussard matriculating in high school, Valley had not won a sectional since 1992. Valley ended that drought in 2023 when Bussard was a freshman, and now they have won another.

Valley improved to 15-9 and will play John Glenn next in a regional. John Glenn edged South Bend St. Joe 10-9 to win the Sectional 19 title.

Valley split two meetings in Indiana Northern State Conference play with John Glenn, winning 4-3 at Valley April 28 but losing 12-2 in six innings in Walkerton May 14.

This is believed to be the first time Valley has ever hosted a softball regional. Valley lost at New Prairie in their 2023 regional game.

And the good news was not limited to a sectional title: Senior center fielder Kahlyn Manns, who had not played since suffering an ankle injury on an awkward slide against NorthWood in the quarterfinals on Monday, returned to the lineup. Manns played center field and went 0 for 3.

Fairfield, who came in averaging 11.1 runs per game, finished 22-7. They had won their previous sectional games over Wawasee and West Noble by a combined score of 33-1.

Kaitlyn Threlkel had Valley’s other RBI on a single in the fourth that scored Bussard, who led off with a single and moved to second on KC Shriver’s sacrifice bunt.

In the fifth, Minda Shriver doubled with one out and advanced to third on Gaby Gonzalez’s infield single. Gonzalez then stole second. Makenzey Morton struck out but reached first on a dropped third strike.

Bussard then lined a single to right to score Minda Shriver and Gonzalez to make it 3-0.

Fairfield had two hits in the first, but Bussard got Caouette to fly out to end the inning. That started a stretch of 10 straight batters retired until Copen singled and advanced to second on an error in the outfield to start the fifth.

Copen would eventually reach third on a passed ball with one out, but Bussard fanned Grace Mast and Maura Wilhelm to end the threat.

Madison Jones doubled with two outs in the sixth, but Bussard struck out Lilly Yoder. The lead remained 3-0.

Tippecanoe Valley 3, Fairfield 1

Fairfield 000 000 1 – 1 5 0

Valley 000 120 X – 3 6 0

WP – Dalynne Bussard (7 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 15 K)

LP – Madison Jones (6 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 5 K)

2B – Copen (FF), Jones (FF), Minda Shriver (TV)