Crown Point’s Maggie Ballentine doesn’t shrink from situations such as those in Tuesday night’s Class 4A Chesterton Regional championship game.
The senior second baseman embraces them.
Ballentine’s double in the sixth inning accounted for the only runs as the Bulldogs edged the host Trojans 2-0.
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Crown Point (28-4), ranked No. 5 in the state coaches poll, notched its third narrow win of the season against No. 10 Chesterton (21-7-1) to advance to Saturday’s noon semifinal of the Class 4A West Lafayette Harrison Semistate.
The Bulldogs won their second regional title in three years, having won a state championship in 2017.
Ballentine also started on that team.
“As an athlete, you live for these,” she said. “You want to play in these games. It’s more adrenaline than anything else. It’s like, ‘Let’s go do this.'”
Ballentine, who went 2-for-3 Tuesday, got it done against Chesterton ace Lexi Benko.
Madi Elish singled with one out in the sixth and Mallory McMahon added a single with two outs. On a 1-2 pitch, Ballentine laced a double to left-center field, the game’s only extra-base hit.
“The adrenaline was crazy,” Ballentine said. “I decided I was going to get in there and do it. It was a battle and I decided I wasn’t going to let her win.”
Crown Point coach Pete Iussig wasn’t surprised Ballentine came through with a clutch hit.
“Huge, huge,” he said.
Freshman Brinkley Kita and Arizona commit Elish, a sohomore, combined to outlast Indiana State recruit Benko.
Kita went five innings, allowing two hits with six strikeouts and one walk.
“I love Brinkley,” Ballentine said. “She’s one of my best friends — I give her rides home every day. We’re super close. I trust her with my life.”
Elish — who also went 2-for-3 and reached base in all four of her plate appearances with an error and intentional walk — pitched the final two innings. She allowed two hits with four strikeouts.
Kaitlyn Carr, who went 2-for-3, led off the seventh with a single before Elish induced a groundout and notched two strikeouts to end the game.
Benko surrendered six hits with five strikeouts and three walks.
“I’ve been playing against Lexi Benko my entire life and I’ve played travel with her,” Ballentine said. “I have so much respect for her as a pitcher and player.
“I have so much respect for Chesterton as a whole team. They’re a very, very quality team — they wouldn’t be in regionals if they weren’t.”
Indeed, Chesterton coach Dan Lynch believed Crown Point, Lake Central, Munster or his Trojans could have emerged from the regional.
But he’ll have fond memories from his first season running the program after 14 years as an assistant.
“We worked together as a team,” Lynch said. “We functioned as a team and we always talk about that. This really is a true team.”