BENNETT'S MINUTES: Moore announcement set Saturday; Cub girls eye big name

Thursday, May 31, 2018

The announcement of the long-anticipated college decision by Cloverdale’s Jalen Moore will take place Saturday at the basketball standout’s graduation party.

Moore, who led the state in scoring this year in guiding the Clovers to their fourth straight sectional title, received surprisingly little interest from colleges — but made his commitment to a school earlier this week.

Olney Central College and Lincoln Trail College have both offered the 5-9 guard, while other schools from all levels have shown interest at some point.

I even had a former high school coach to contact me last week, saying a friend of his recently was hired as an NAIA coach and was looking for a guard.

We’ll find out soon, and it will be interesting to follow Moore’s career wherever he winds up.

On another local front, it appears that a potential candidate for the still-vacant Greencastle girls’ job is former Carmel coach Tod Windlan, who was forced out as head coach of the Greyhounds this spring after going 24-3 last season and winning a sectional title — allegedly due to parent concerns.

Carmel’s Amy Dilk is this year’s Indiana “Miss Basketball.”

Matching a coaching candidate to a teaching position is always difficult, but it would be great for the Tiger Cubs to find a spot for a coach who by all accounts got a raw deal at Carmel.

Other odds and ends:

Greencastle freshman Molly Ramey hits a return shot during sectional action last month.
Banner Graphic/JOEY BENNETT

• Golf, tennis continue — Greencastle’s boys’ golf team hopes to defend its Attica Sectional title today at Harrison Hills.

The Cubs, North Putnam and South Putnam will be competing along with athletes from Attica, Covington, Crawfordsville, Fountain Central, North Montgomery, North Vermillion, Rockville, Seeger, South Vermillion, Southmont and Turkey Run.

Greencastle’s Jake Bennett and Blaise Hasty finished tied for third individually last year with an 80.

The winner in 2017 was Seeger sophomore Peyton Snoeberger, who went on to compete in the state finals. He is the third-ranked junior player statewide.

The top three teams advance to the Washington Regional on Thursday at Country Oaks.

In girls’ tennis, Greencastle’s No. 1 doubles team of senior Nicole Newgent and Molly Ramey will play against Lafayette Central Catholic seniors Lizzie Cramer and Sami Royer on Saturday in the Kokomo doubles regional.

Newgent and Ramey have a record of 13-4 this season, while Cramer and Royer are 12-6.

The other semifinal match has already been won by forfeit by Shamari Jackson and Trinity Johnson of Fort Wayne South Side (4-6). Their scheduled opponent withdrew from the competition.

The winner of the LCC-Greencastle match will play the Fort Wayne South duo for the right to advance to the state finals.

• Miller gets Brebeuf job — Former Greencastle and DePauw basketball standout Erin Miller is the new girls’ varsity basketball coach at Brebeuf Jesuit in Indianapolis.

Erin Miller

Miller was formerly an assistant coach at both Brownsburg and Brebeuf, and was Brebeuf’s varsity softball coach this year. She teaches science at the school.

The Braves have had 11 straight losing seasons since going 23-6 in 2006-07, including a 2-19 season last year.

• DePauw attracting top athletes — DePauw has done an outstanding job of recruiting top student-athletes this spring.

In addition to Cloverdale standouts Tyce Jackson (football) and Tyler Kaeff (football/track), Indianapolis City Athlete of the Year Jenna Purichia of Cardinal Ritter will play volleyball for the Tigers this fall.

Purichia lettered in volleyball for two years, in basketball for four years and in softball for four years at Ritter and was a team captain in all three sports.

She won a total of seven All-City awards in her three sports, and will be playing in the state North-South All-Star game this summer in softball.

Another big pickup for the Tigers is New Palestine softball pitcher Mackenzie Jones, who turned in an impressive performance on Tuesday in pitching a 16-1 win over Edgewood in Class 3A regional action.

Jones’ sophomore sister Michaela is her catcher, and has already committed to play for Maryland. Several other Dragons have committed or signed to play collegiately.

The Jones sisters have a cousin you may have heard of — Northview baseball standout Braydon Tucker, who will play at Indiana if he doesn’t wind up signing after next week’s Major League Baseball free-agent draft.

Another outstanding player from an outstanding athletic family is Terre Haute South’s Gretchen Anne Etling, who will play basketball for the Tigers.

Her sister Maeghan is a junior-to-be volleyball player at DePauw, finishing second on the team last fall with 754 blocks.

Older sister Mary Kate (who now works for the NCAA) starred on the DePauw volleyball court a few years earlier.

The oldest sibling (Joey) played basketball at Wabash, where their father (Joe) also attended school.

And then there’s brother Danny, who was a seventh-round draft choice by the New England Patriots in last month’s NFL draft.

Danny Etling played two years at Purdue before transferring to Louisiana State, where he led the Tigers to a pair of bowl games.

Etling was the second of only two NFL draft picks this year from Indiana high schools, joining Wake Forest defensive back Jessie Bates III of Fort Wayne Snider — a second-round pick by the Cincinnati Bengals.

• WIC finished in softball — Edgewood was the only Western Indiana Conference team to win a softball sectional, and after their big loss to New Palestine the WIC is now out of active teams.

The softball tourneys are down to eight teams in each class. Tri-West is still alive in Class 3A and meets New Palestine in the Jasper Semistate on Saturday.

Speedway, which defeated South Vermillion 9-0 in regional play on Tuesday, will play Tecumseh in a Class 2A game at Forest Park.

North Central (Farmersburg) routed Covenant Christian 11-1 in regional play, and plays in the 1A North Daviess Semistate on Saturday.

• ‘Chad Rock’ still alive — Many people know Chad Chrisman, the boys’ eighth-grade and varsity assistant basketball coach at Cloverdale, who is visible at numerous other school activities.

“Chad Rock” is a devoted friend of the entire Rady family, and spends his springs as an assistant baseball coach at Terre Haute South.

Chrisman and the Braves won the Avon Sectional 13-12 over Northview on Monday, and will play in the Decatur Central Regional on Saturday against Pendleton Heights.

The two remaining WIC baseball teams will both be at the Crawfordsville Class 3A Regional, but couldn’t meet until the final game.

West Vigo opens the tourney against North Montgomery, while Indian Creek battles Tri-West in the other semifinal game.

• Baseball columns moved — The second and third installments of my series on Putnam County baseball have been delayed a bit by busy schedules, and the desire to get more timely information published.

The final two parts of the series will run on Tuesday and Wednesday of next week.