Stewart’s 3-run homer sends Mount Vernon past East Newton for district softball crown

It appeared East Newton may have escaped the bottom of the sixth in Tuesday’s Class 2 District 6 championship after just three quick at-bats.

The Patriots held a 5-3 lead with two outs as Mount Vernon’s AJ Shipman slapped a pitch from Ericka McMillen to the shortstop position.

The Patriots’ Sylvia Larsen fielded the ball on the run, strode toward first base and fired the ball while still on the move. Larsen knew she had to be quick with the speedy Shipman running.

The bang-bang play at first went to Shipman and allowed the Mountaineers to extend the inning. Mary Fields followed with an opposite field base hit she lofted over the infielders and into right field. That brought up the top of head coach Matt Schubert’s lineup in freshman Hailey Stewart.

Stewart drove a pitch deep to left center field and over the fence for a three-run home run to put the Mountaineers on top, 6-5. Emmie Schubert went out for the top of the seventh and held the Patriots at bay as she and her teammates celebrated the first district title since 2023.

“This is a state championship-caliber matchup and that’s exactly what we got today, I felt like,” coach Schubert said.

“I should’ve probably walked her (Stewart). That’s my fault. I about put her on to load the bases, but, the girl right behind her (Lily Burk) has been smashing base hits. But I still probably should have walked her,” East Newton head coach Jeff Atchison said. “Kudos to her. She’s a really good player, I think one of the best catchers in the area, and she beat us.”

Atchison spoke to the close call at first on Shipman’s infield single: “I thought she was out at first. I thought that was a big play. But, I think the calls went both ways. There were a couple that were kind of iffy here and there. That’s the way it goes.”

The game began with a solo home run from Stewart and then Jocelyn Liss launched a two-run homer in the first inning as well as the Mountaineers built an early 3-0 advantage off East Newton’s starting pitcher, Kolby Rinehart.

Rinehart seemed to settle in after that as she didn’t allow any offense in the second, third or fourth innings before being lifted for McMillen. And the relief was effective in the fifth allowing just one hit and no runs.

“It was just home runs — the big bombs — that killed us,” Atchison said.

East Newton’s offense came in two different innings as well. It scratched its first run across in the top of the third when Lexi Brown lined a pitch into the opposite field that got down in the gap in right field and rolled all the way to the fence for an RBI-double to make it 3-1.

In the top of the fifth, Emmie Schubert was faced with the top of the Patriots’ batting order to start things.

Larsen singled to left field. Rylie McCurdy drove a pitch off the fence in left field for an RBI-double scoring Larsen.

Brown stepped in next and hit the first pitch of the at-bat deep enough to be a home run but she pulled it too far as it carried foul before caroming off a utility pole beyond the outfield fence. She later reached first base on an infield single to put two runners on base for McMillen.

The junior first baseman/pitcher reached on a fielding error, which allowed a run to score, tying the game at 3-3. Rinehart followed by laying down a bunt that Schubert tried to field and flip home for an out but there wasn’t enough time for Stewart to make a tag and the Patriots took a 4-3 lead with no one out in the inning.

The first out came on the next batter when Maggie Marion placed a sacrifice bunt perfectly to get the fifth run across and Marion was thrown out at first. The next two batters were strikeout victims for Schubert as she escaped the inning with her team trailing 5-3.

“Emmie has a great assortment of pitches and we tried to keep them off-balance by mixing them up pretty good. Their lineup is just so tough. They got a lot of great hitters,” Schubert said. “She wasn’t as sharp today as she was yesterday (semifinal game) but she kept battling and sticking her nose in there.”

During that fifth frame, East Newton took advantage of an opportunity to advance from second to third. Mount Vernon’s throw over to try and catch her made the play close as Shipman moved over to field the throw, the Patriot baserunner slid into Shipman’s leg. The Mountaineers’ shortstop stood up but quickly fell back down grabbing at her left knee.

“AJ’s one of the toughest kids we’ve got. So, for her to go down like that, you know it hurts,” Schubert said. “And then for her to come up in the bottom of the sixth with two outs and hit that ball to short, use her speed to get there (first base) and get that rally started … I think that comes from mental toughness and a little bit of physical toughness. I don’t know if every one of our kids would have gotten up and been OK there.”

The Patriots conclude their season with a 24-5 record and will return the majority of their starting lineup next season. Mount Vernon (28-5) awaits the winner of District 5 and will host either Clever or Springfield Catholic next Tuesday.