(West Lafayette, IN) - New Prairie High School history was made Friday night. The girls’ softball team brought home the school’s first team state championship.

 

The Lady Cougars held off Tri-West Hendricks for a 4-2 victory at Purdue’s Bittinger Stadium in West Lafayette.

 

Senior Makayla Collins hit a homer in the first inning to put the Lady Cougars up early. Tri-West answered right away, tying the game to end the first.

 

There was a hint of controversy in the second inning, as junior Emily Mrozinski hit a long ball that was ruled foul.

 

In the middle innings, the two teams traded runs. The Lady Bruins took the lead in the third. In the fourth, Abby Robakowski stole third base on a heads-up play but was thrown out at home on a fielder’s choice ground ball. Mrozinski came through with an RBI single, scoring pinch runner Aria Gayton.

 

New Prairie scored twice in the sixth following a trio of Tri-West errors.  Mrozinski struck again, driving in a run with a base hit.

 

Tri-West staged a late rally in the bottom of the seventh. With two runners on base and one out, sophomore pitching phenom Ava Geyer struck out the last two batters to win the game. Geyer fanned nine on the night and out-pitched Tri-West’s Audrey Lowry, who has committed to play for recent NCAA National Champion Oklahoma.

 

Only four teams from New Prairie have made it to the State Finals, including this year’s football team. But this one is the first to return victorious. At about half past midnight, the team bus, escorted by police cars and fire trucks, took victory laps through Rolling Prairie and New Carlisle, before bringing home their first-ever team championship trophy.