Shelbyville softball finishes winless at Castle Invitational

EVANSVILLE – Shelbyville was three outs from its first win in the second annual Castle Invitational but could not secure them Saturday afternoon.

The Golden Bears led Eastern Hancock 8-5 going to the top of the seventh, but the Royals used four extra-base hits to score four runs and steal a 9-8 win.

Shelbyville finished 0-4 for the second straight season in one of the state’s toughest invitationals. The Golden Bears lost two games to reigning state champions.

In the opener Friday, Shelbyville ran into one of the most powerful pitchers in the state in Hamilton Southeastern’s Grace Swedarsky, a Virginia Tech commit.

Swedarsky pitched the Royals to the Class 4A state championship last season and dominated the Golden Bears for six innings Friday night. She struck out 17 in a 4-0 win.

Gracie Crafton took the loss for Shelbyville, allowing seven hits and hitting two Royals while striking out six.

In its second pool game Friday, Edwardsville (Illinois) jumped out to a 5-0 lead on Shelbyville starting pitcher Sydney Brown.

The Golden Bears responded with a 4-run fourth inning highlighted by a 2-run double by Addie Stieneker (photo).

The Tigers kept the pressure on Brown and the Shelbyville defense, scoring four runs in the third, two more in the fourth and four unearned runs in the fifth on the way to a 15-5 victory.

Steineker, a Marshall commit, had two doubles in the loss, scored two runs and delivered two RBI. Hailey Maulden had three hits. Kali Laycock finished with a pair of hits and scored a run.

Shelbyville faced Cascade, the Class 2A state champions in 2024, early Saturday morning and battled the Cadets until a disastrous sixth inning.

Cascade, now in Class 3A with nearly its entire roster returning, led 6-1 before the Golden Bears scored four runs off Ball State recruit Grace Gray.

Consecutive singles from Crafton and Brown started the inning. Maulden reached on a fielder’s choice before Julie Garrison and Addison Wooten singled to drive in three runs.

Crafton faced one batter in the fifth before Brown took over in the circle. The Cadets extended the lead to 7-5 and the Shelbyville offense failed to score a run over the final three innings.

Cascade batted around in the sixth and seventh innings to close out a 19-5 victory.

Shelbyville fell behind Eastern Hancock 3-0 in the first inning of its final game.

Stieneker had an RBI double in the bottom of the first to cut into the lead.

Crafton settled in and allowed just one base runner over the next four innings.

A 5-run third inning saw Stieneker, Anna Shearer, Brown, Maulden and Wooten drive in runs as 11 Golden Bears stepped to the plate.

McKenna Stewart relieved Eastern Hancock starting pitcher Macy Martin in the fourth inning and did not allow a run the rest of the way to give her team hope.

The Royals scored twice in the sixth inning and got RBI doubles from Hannah Wittgren and Chyan Evans and a RBI triple from Brooklyn Headlee to complete the comeback.

Stieneker had three extra-base hits in the loss, scored two runs and had two RBI. Shearer had two hits and drove in two runs.

Shelbyville is scheduled for four Hoosier Heritage Conference games this week.

The Golden Bears (4-5) are at Pendleton Heights (3-1) Monday before hosting New Castle (3-0) Tuesday and Delta (1-3) Friday before traveling to Yorktown (2-0) Saturday morning.

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