Lake Central softball fulfills potential as state's top team: 'Like a dream'

WEST LAFAYETTE — It sounded like a cannon off the bat. A thunderous crack that reverberated through Purdue's Bittinger Stadium as the rows of fans behind home plate held their breath.

The one responsible was Lake Central's Emma Wilkins, who squared up the first pitch she saw from Jaleigh Lindley and absolutely launched it over the left-field wall for her first career grand slam.

The junior outfielder couldn't stop smiling as she sprinted — "Seriously, she was in a dead sprint," coach Yvette Tovar emphasized — out of the box, slapping hands with her dad, Mike Wilkins, at first and Tovar at third before entering the mass of humanity that had gathered at home plate.

"Emma is amazing," Tovar said of her No. 7 hitter. "The kid has so much patience and I think she has been locked and loaded since the middle of the season. … But for her to have that breakout grand slam, it felt good. It felt really good for her to be the one to do it."

Wilkins' third-inning blast was the turning point in the Indians' 9-2 win over Terre Haute North in the Class 4A state championship game Friday night, blowing the lid off what was a two-run game and putting the state's top-ranked team firmly in control.

"That really kicked us off. We were all super excited," senior Tegan Tripp said. "We were like, 'OK, we got it now. Let's just keep going.'"

"That was the killer," Terre Haute North coach Chris Mundy added. "We were down 2-0, then boom — and that was after a couple mistakes. That was killer."

The Indians went on to add runs in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings, then iced the Braves' attempt at a seventh-inning rally with Wilkins teaming up with Alexa Iwema and Tripp for the game-ending double play.