Katelyn Majda was calm and cool.
Before and after Saturday’s Class A Washington Township Sectional championship game. And especially during the Senators’ 3-2 win against Morgan Township.
Why not?
Washington Township lost 24-4 in five innings to the Cherokees on April 20 in Porter County Conference round-robin play.
Yet there was the junior pitcher, who absorbed the loss in that regular-season game, celebrating with her teammates after reversing that blowout.
“The pressure wasn’t on us because it wasn’t expected,” Majda said. “We just came out hard and it worked.
“It’s crazy. No one was expecting it.”
Junior left fielder Maddy Moore agreed with that assessment.
“It’s just surreal,” she said.
Washington Township (16-8) won its second sectional title in program history, the first coming in 2012.
By the time the teams departed the field, the year “2018” already had been added to the sign on the back of the press box displaying the Senators’ championships.
With its win against Morgan Township (25-3), Washington Township will carry a stretch of 13 wins in 14 games as it hosts Tuesday’s regional against the winner of the North Miami Sectional.
Washington Township coach Ryan Cunningham hammered home the underdog mentality.
“They beat us really badly the first time — we weren’t playing well, we had a couple injuries,” Cunningham said. “I didn’t think we’d turn it around as much as we did, but we’ve had tremendous leadership from our juniors and our one senior (second baseman Alexis Schoenenberger) and our freshmen have come through. When we got our butts handed to us, things got a little personal.
“We had no pressure, our kids came out and played loose — they were expected to win. Sometimes it makes it a little easier on the girls knowing they can go out and play and enjoy themselves. That’s what we saw.”
Perhaps Morgan Township’s nerves were evident in the first inning. The Cherokees committed four errors, leading to a run for Washington Township.
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Morgan Township tied the score in the bottom of the inning on Ashley Bolen’s triple and Erin Hudkins’ single.
But Washington Township moved ahead in the third, scoring two runs on three straight bunts. Moore reached on a fielder’s choice to load the bases. And with the bases loaded each time, Lizzy Rogers and Emily Grass each squeezed to score a run.
“We’ve been working really hard on bunting, getting it down,” Moore said. “They didn’t expect us to come out as hard and prepared as we were. They just got flustered by the fact we did get our bunts down and we had some speed on the bases, too.”
Cunningham credited third-base coach Mike Spicer for the squeezes.
“He looked at me, I gave him a wink, and both of us like to play aggressively,” Cunningham said. “When you’re playing against a team like them, you have to take some chances and hope you come through.”
Morgan Township got back a run in the seventh on singles from Bolen and Kelsi Lemmons, but couldn’t push across any more after putting runners on first and second with one out.
The Cherokees, who won their first PCC title since 2000, had won back-to-back sectional title. Last season, they added their first regional since 2000. Coach Bob Madden declined comment afterward.
Cunningham, with this season being his sixth and last as coach, was overcome with emotion.
“These kids have been an extension of our family,” he said. “This is probably the tightest-knit group in my 26 years of coaching various sports. I know a lot of people say that after they win, but it’s true.”