After finishing the regular season, the Lady Oracles are looking to defend their 2008 sectional title. They played last night in the second game of the Carroll sectional (too late for this week's Comet), facing the Lady Patriots of Seeger High School. The championship game is set for Wednesday night.

The Lady Oracles finished regular season with a 23-4 record and ranked fifth in the state. The Lady Oracles continue to have good pitching and are hitting the ball better each week. They averaged almost 13 hits per game the last four games while pitchers Brittney Atwood and Caitlin Schock gave up less than 4 hits per game.

Vs. Northwestern

The Lady Oracles defeated Northwestern 10-1. The Oracles jumped out to an early lead and never looked back. Lead off batter Whitney Arion got on base and was sacrificed home by the next two Oracle batters for the first run of the game.

The Oracles followed that up with 3 runs in the second inning and two each in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings. Each of the Lady Oracle starters had at least one base hit with Arion and Carli Rouhier having two each. Starting pitcher Caitlin Schock helped her own cause with a double and Britani Rhodes had a triple and scored on the same play as a Lady Tiger fielder threw the ball into the dug out.

Schock was the winning pitcher, getting her sixth win of the season. Atwood came into pitch in the fifth and got the save.

Vs. Clinton Prairie

The Lady Oracles hosted the Lady Gophers of Clinton Prairie the next night. This was the final home game for seniors Atwood, Leslie Kayser, Morgan Lavy and Aspen Wallace. Atwood was the winning pitcher getting her 15th win of the season, 12-5 over the Gophers.

The bats were hot again as the Lady Oracles collected 11 hits and also stole 9 bases on the evening, three by sophomore Kara Laxson. For the first time in 11 days the Lady Oracles trailed in a ballgame as they gave up an unearned run in the first. Being behind lasted one half of one inning as the Lady Oracles scored 5 runs in the first, batting through the line up.

The Oracles were held scoreless in the second but scored in each of the remaining innings of the game. Schock was 2 for 3 on the night with a double in the fourth. Danni Burge and Rouhier were 2 for 4, Burge had two steals. Wallace had a double, 2 RBIs and one stolen base.

Cardinal Ritter Invitational

In Game 1 of the Cardinal Ritter Invitational held Saturday in Indianapolis, it was Delphi vs. Frontier in the second game of the morning. The Oracles had faced the Lady Falcons just nine days earlier and the results were the same, an 8-0 Oracle victory. This was the 16th shut out of the season for the Oracles.

Schock got the pitching victory, her seventh of the season, giving up just two hits. The Oracles pounded out 13 hits for the game. Rouhier was the big hitter, collecting 3 hits on 4 at bats. One of the hits was an in the park home run occurring on a long drive to right field. It bounced off the fence, hit the Falcon right fielder in the head knocking her to the ground. The young lady was not able to continue the play and Rouhier crossed home plate as the center fielder finally reached the ball. Rhodes had a home run "the old fashion way," hitting it over the left field fence in the third inning for one of her two hits of the game. Arion and Wallace also had two hits.

In the championship game the Lady Oracles faced the Class 4A Lady Shamrocks of Westfield, who had beaten the host Ritter Lady Pirates 4-3 in the first game.

The Lady Shamrocks were no match for the Lady Oracles who exploded for 17 hits in the game. Twelve Lady Oracles earned base hits. The Oracle offense was led by winning pitcher, Atwood, who went 3 for 4 in the game. Arion, Chanler Norman, Rouhier, and Wallace all had two hits each. Norman also had a solo home run to lead off the sixth inning.

Junior left fielder Burge had a flawless day in the outfield. In the first inning she was involved in a double play in which she covered third base from her outfield spot as Oracle third baseman Rouhier charged a bunt, made a throw to first baseman Norman, who in turn threw back to Burge, who tagged another Shamrock runner trying to advance on the bunt. A few plays later Burge got the third out of the same inning as she charged a short hit to left, collected it on the first bounce and threw a strike to catcher Kayser who tagged out a Shamrock runner trying to score.