By DAVID VANTRESS

For Northwest News

Last season the Carroll High School softball team won its first ever IHSAA Class 4A sectional championship.

What would the Chargers do for an encore in 2023?

Well, first they won their second sectional title last week over DeKalb.

Then on Tuesday night, May 30, they won their first ever regional championship, defeating Huntington North, 1-0.

That would be a Huntington North squad that came to Carroll with a 26-2 record.

The Chargers got a first-inning run on a bases-loaded walk when Delaney Connor drove in Tegan Sites and made that lead stick, as sophomore pitcher Emilia Garcia went the distance, giving up four hits and striking out three.

Garcia hurled a no-hitter against DeKalb on Thursday, May 25, to earn the Chargers their second straight sectional title.

A beaming Garcia gave much of the credit for her dominating pitching showing to the Charger defense.

“I knew they had my back,” Garcia said.

Carroll entered the postseason below .500 at 12-13, but came together to bulldoze its way through wins over Northrop, DeKalb and Huntington North without giving up a run.

Carroll coach Cassie Antos was out for the beginning of the season on maternity leave, having a baby boy, Hunter, to go along with daughter, Isla, earlier in the spring. She returned to the coaching box around May 1.

The phrase “it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish” can be especially applicable to the realm of sports, and that has certainly been true for the Chargers in 2023, Antos said.

“We’re peaking at the right time, and being able to play well together as a team,” a drenched Antos said after taking the traditional Gatorade shower from her celebrating Chargers.

Carroll moved on to this weekend’s semistate at Lafayette Harrison. The Chargers were slated to play the second semifinal on Saturday at 1 p.m. against Lake Central (28-4-1), a 6-1 winner over Crown Point on Tuesday night in its own regional final.

The first semifinal of the day features 25-4-1 Penn against 26-5 Lafayette Harrison. The semifinal winners will face off at 7 p.m. for the Class 4A northern semistate crown and a trip to June 9 or 10’s state championship at Bittinger Stadium on the Purdue University campus in West Lafayette.