By Justin Sokeland
WBIW.com
BEDFORD – With one thunderous swing, Ava Ratliff made history. With multiple lightning strikes, Floyd Central stormed to a message-sending victory.
Ratliff, Bedford North Lawrence’s superstar slugging sensation, blasted her way into the Indiana record books with her 51st home run, setting a new career mark. But that was tempered by Floyd Central’s relentless attack as the Class 4A No.6 Highlanders dominated a showdown for the Hoosier Hills Conference lead on Friday evening.
Floyd exploded for eight runs in the second inning en route to a 16-4 triumph over the Stars. With small-ball speed (three bunts for base hits) and thumping power (five extra-base hits), the Highlanders improved to 4-0 in the league while handing BNL (6-8-1 overall) its first league setback.
That’s the bad news. First, the good news.
Ratliff ended her pursuit of the state career record, crushing a solo home run (her eighth of the season, putting her atop the state leaderboard) to deep center while leading off the third inning. As she rounded the bases, her family entourage on the hillside in center set off a mushroom cloud of streamers and confetti that littered the outfield, and her teammates mobbed her at home plate. The countdown was officially over.
“It felt really good,” Ratliff said. “And for sure it was a sense of relief.”
The game was halted for a brief ceremony that included audio tributes from former BNL star Sarah Stone (now a standout at Indiana University), former teammates, and Cincinnati Reds legend Johnny Bench, who presented Ratliff the award with his name attached as the Midwest’s best high school catcher during the offseason. Standing alone at home plate, Ratliff was humbled and a little embarrassed by all the attention.
“That was cool,” she said of the recorded presentation. “But it was so awkward, I was just standing there and everyone was looking at me.”
Back to the bad news. After scoring an unearned run in the first, Floyd (16-3) erupted in the second to take control. Breleigh Lockhart started the killer rally with a double, Maddie Luckhardt dropped a bunt and reached on another error, and that opened the door for Olive Kinder (RBI single), Peyton Drummond (two-run triple), Carsyn Hildreth (RBI bunt single) and Nora Koehler (three-run homer to left) to inflict major damage.
“We gave them too many opportunities,” BNL coach Brad Gilbert said. “You can’t give a team like Floyd Central extra outs. We played a little timid, went to sleep a couple of times. It’s frustrating that we weren’t sharper and ready to go.”
After Ratliff’s memorable swat, the Stars scored three in the fourth to scramble within 9-4. Tori Nikirk cracked a RBI double, Ratliff followed with a sharp single to center for another run, and Aliza Jewell lofted a sacrifice fly to chase home pinch runner Bella Warren. But that was the last BNL noise.
The Highlanders pulled away with four in the fifth (Hildreth sliced a bases-loaded triple to right) and three in the seventh (Koehler cranked a two-run single).
“We’re pretty well balanced, and we did a good job of taking the team approach at the plate, putting the ball in play,” FC coach Sean Payne said. “We knew BNL just doesn’t quit, so we had to keep adding on. That’s the message we just kept delivering.
“This game was big, we didn’t want to relinquish any of that league lead. It needed to be a sectional-type game.”
Koehler had three hits and five RBIs while Hildreth added three hits and drove in four. Floyd finished with 19 hits. The scariest part? Of the 24 players on the roster, 20 are freshmen and sophomores. “They play above their years,” Payne said.
Ratliff went 4-for-4 and drove in two runs. The biggest was, without doubt, the record-setting bomb.
“I’m glad she did it and it’s over with, she can relax now,” Gilbert said. “To see all 51 home runs is pretty exciting, that moment was just really cool. If she keeps going, that record could be pretty big.”
The loss took away some of the joy.
“We didn’t have our best game,” Ratliff said. “We can’t get down on ourselves. We can compete with this team if we had a better game, we have to stay positive.”
BNL will visit Center Grove to face the No.8 Trojans and Columbus North on Saturday.
