Andrean third baseman Kaitlin Barajas and pitcher Nicole Steinbach watched catcher Morghyn Neal throw to first base in the forth inning of Saturday's 3A state finals against Edgewood. (All photos by Mark Smith)

Catherine (Cat) Murad, below, talks to coach Brooke Baker-Runyon before batting in the fifth inning. Murad walked twice in the state title game.

Third baseman Kaitlin Barajas (19) fires to first after forcing out Edgewood's Rachel Delay in the state 3A finals Saturday (6-9-2012) at Ben Davis High in Indianapolis.

Andrean's Nicole Steinbach checks back with the dugout before batting in the sixth.Steinbach was 1-for 3 with a double and an RBI in the state championship game.

First baseman Hannah Kulesa dives for this fifth inning foul ball in the state final game against Edgewood.

Pitcher Nicole Steinbach won her 25th game of the season in the state championship game against Edgewood Saturday with 11 strikeouts and one walk.

Andrean seniors Kaitlin Barajas (19), Kaitlyn Bridgeman (7) Johnee Rodish and Nicole Steinbach, right, pose with the 2012 state Class 3A championship softball trophy.

Andrean coach Brooke Baker Runyon, the star pitcher on Lake Central's 2002 state 4A championship team, is awarded her medal as head coach of 2012 3A state champion Andrean. She is the first person to play on a state softball champion and later coach a state champ in the 28 years of the Indiana state softball tournament. (All photos by Mark Smith)

Team (Record) / Inning	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	R	H	E
ANDREAN (28-4)	6	2	0	0	1	0	0	9	10	2
Edgewood (21-12)	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	2	5	4

INDIANAPOLIS (06-09-2012) Such a circle of life.
It des not have to work this way. Just because you win as a player does not mean you will win as a coach ten years later.
Just because you've lost the state title game twice as underclassmen does not mean you will win the state championship as seniors.

But that was Andrean's never-ending story Saturday as the favored 59ers rolled over out manned Edgewood 9-2 to with the 2012 Class 3A state championship in midsummer 90-degree heat out behind Ben Davis high school on Indianapolis' west side.

Under blazing late afternoon sunshine, Andrean walked the fine line of being intense but not nervous for the ultimate game. You cant realistically treat a championship game like just any other game. But this 9-2 title win didn't play out much different that last week's 7-1 semistate championship victory over Woodlan.
With seven of Saturday's starters having started the 2011 title game, Andrean clearly had an edge in knowledge of how to approach the big game in Indianapolis in June.

"Its huge," said coach Brooke Baker Runyon, who played in the 4A state title game in 2002 and 2003. "When you play relaxed, you play your game. You don't want to put emphasis on any inning or any game. It (state finals' experience) worked out in our favor. It played a huge role."

Andrean (28-4) never trailed after the first two minutes of the game.
Savannah Kinsella walked on four pitches against Edgewood senior Ashley Miller (11-7), and Kaitlin Barajas hit a 1-2 pitch in to left field for a base hit.
Catcher Morghyn Neal lined an RBI single to right which got past Edgewood right field Nicole Salyers, allowing a second Niner run to scorer. Nicole Steinbach, batting cleanup, hit the first pitch off the left field wall for an RBI double and a 3-0 lead. Brenna Boyle then lined the first pitch she saw in to left center field for an RBI single and a 4-0 lead.
Edgewood coach Mick Hammett changed pitchers at that point, bringing in senior Paige Ernst (3-2, 2.78 RA) but the game was effectively over at that point. Andrean scored two more runs on an RBI ground out by senior Johnna Rodish and a throwing error by the Edgewood infield but you almost never come from six runs behind in high school state tournament softball.

Steinbach (25-2), who would strike out 11 and walk one, came into the game with an earned run average of 0.41 having allowed only 11 earned runs in 186 innings. The 59er had to tell themselves the game wasn't over even though they had serious reason to believe it was.
Especially after the senior class was shut out 10-0 in the 2009 state championship game and 8-0 in the 2011 state title game.
"You never know," said catcher Morghyn Neal. "There's always that chance that they can get some people on base and get a hit it just adds to the momentum. Even if you are ahead 6-0 in the first."

Andrean sophomore Brenna Boyle epitomize the fact that the Niners had been here before (this was Edgewood's first-ever state title softball game) played a major role with an RBI double in the first, an RBI single in the second and a leadoff double off the center field fence in the fifth. Boyle is a sophomore but, again, a sophomore who played in the 2011 state title game 12 months earlier.

"She channels her nerves really well," said Runyon. "Last year she didn't have good games as we went deeper in the tournament. I tried to tell her don't think of them as nerves. Just think of it as being anxious for the game to be played."
"She wants to score runs for games that wont be played until next year. That's how anxious she gets. She's able to channel it."

"Once we scored in the first, I knew we'd win," said Steinbach, who pitched last June 11's 8-0 loss to Roncalli in the 2011 final game.
"We were never nervous, really. Especially after the first inning.
I know they (Edgewood) came ready but, that was the first time we'd scored a run in the state championship game. We didn't talk about it. Two totally different teams."
"I'm just a little overwhelmed right now because we've finally run state."
It was a tough day for Edgewood's Ashley Miller.
The senior pitcher who came in with an 11-6 record (1.90 ERA), plus a .495 batting average (46-95. 495, 5 homers, 31 RBIs) allowed five runs and didn't get anybody out. She also was 0-for-4 against Steinbach. Again, the difference between someone having been to the title game twice before and a girl playing the combination of her final game of her high school career in the championship game for the first time.
The landmark is the Brooke Baker-Runyon, the former Lake Central all-stater 2000-2003, who became the first person in the 28 years of the IHSAA state tournament to coach a team to a state title (2002) after playing on a state title team (2002). But the oddity is that a first year coach took over a team that lost in the state finals and the new team got back and won. The Andrean girls didn't have to accept her but they clearly did.

"I knew who she was, "said Neal, "I never saw her play but I knew who she was. At first, I thought she'd be hard on everyone. But as soon as we knew what her personality was, we clicked as a team."

Neal didn't say that girls should always be coached by women. By she did say it has its inherent advantages.
"Its different," she said. "Sometimes guys don't know how to talk to girls in ways which don't make them get down on themselves. Girls have been coached by guys and they know what its like. Brooke knows how to relate to us. Mr. Ryan (2011 coach Henry Ryan) couldn't really talk to us in a personal conversation.
"With Brooke, we can talk to her about anything."

Runyon was a little overwhelmed when the public address announcer at Ben Davis announced her landmark achievement during the post game medal awards.
"I didn't know about it until one of the newspaper brought it up," she said. "I'm excited about it. I'm just very fortunate to have this team my first year.
"After getting a family atmosphere, I think they realize that everything I'm doing is what best for them. This is the ultimate goal. Everything leading up to that, this is what you get for it.
In my drill sergeant practices, the things I'm doing aren't just to be mean. They're there for a purpose. They responded really well to me.
Girls respond well to former players."



FINALS NOTES: Andrean graduates four seniors (Nicole Steinbach, Kaitlin Barajas, Johnee Rodish and Kaitlyn Bridgeman) and three starters (Steinbach, Barajas and Rodish).
With all due respect to Barajas (48-105, .457, 8 HRs, 33 RBIs) the irreplaceable player is Steinbach, who started 28 of Andrean's 32 games and will pitch for Ball State in 2013.
The only other player to pitch for Andrean this season was shortstop Brenna Boyle (2-2, 1.84 ERA 13 strikeouts in 19 innings) and its almost certain the Niners would not take her away from the shortstop position to make her the No. 1 pitcher.
Who will pitch for the defending state champions next season?.
Who knows?. The thing to note here is that coach Brooke Baker Runyon, the former Lake Central and Purdue pitching star, has been a youth pitching instructor for several years in the summer. She already knows many of the up-and-coming prospects.
"We'll see what happens," said Morghyn Neal. "We'll pretty much have the same team (except for the pitcher). That's pretty much the biggest thing. But coach says she knows people she's coached for travel ball who might like to come here and pitch. You never know."

Andrean won the 2A state title (there were only three classes in the 80s and 90s) state title in 1998 and the 3A state title in 2007, both under former coach Frank Podkul.The Niners were state runner ups in 1999, 2009 and 2011.
It was Podkul's idea for the Niners to play the majority of the 59ers games on the road. Andrean (28-4) played just nine of 32 games at home this season. The Niners were 8-1 at home and 20-3 away from home.

In an odd not, the Andrean girls sang the national anthem before the game. Since there were four championship games Saturday at Ben Davis, the officials at Ben Davis chose to save some time by playing the Star Spangled Banner only at the start of the first game.
So, the 59er girls sang the anthem themselves while the coaches were meeting the umpires at home plate before the game.
"I don't know," said Andrean coach Brooke Baker-Runyon, who was one of many who didn't have know the exact meaning of her girls pre-game song fest. "They juts love that part of the game."
"I guess they're just diehard Americans."

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Revised: June 19, 2012.