Head coach Mark Schellinger says the Cougars have had their sights set on this all year. “We had a really good start, but we’ve also gotten a lot better,” he said about the season so far. “I think our guys were confident going into the year and really expected to play well and expected to make a deep post-season run."
New Prairie faces Ft. Wayne Bishop Dwenger in the 3A semi-state. Schellinger says they’ll continue to lean on their two pitching aces, Tyler Greenwood and Joe Kinney. “Our guys are really comfortable when those two are on the mound,” said, “and that really spills over offensively. We’ve been able to jump out to some early leads throughout the tournament and be able to hold on from there and kind of use that energy to carry us through the game.”
The Cougars are riding a nine-game winning streak, defeating recent opponents Culver Academy and Knox 34-2, then squeaking by Hanover Central.
Today’s semi-state is hosted at Kokomo’s Municipal field, a minor-league-caliber field with synthetic turf. Schellinger said he took his team to Penn High School on Friday afternoon to practice on such a surface. “We had a really good week of preparation,” he said. “Energy is up. The guys are excited to get to this point. They realize what an opportunity it is.”
The only other time New Prairie has made it to semi-state was back in 2005. If they beat Dwenger in game 1, they’ll play the winner of Delta and Twin Lakes Saturday evening.
