With a trip to the South Central regional in Troy next week wrapped up, the Goshen Eagles will look to bring home an area championship today in Jack.

Goshen is in the championship game of the Class 2A Area 5 tournament by virtue of its wins Tuesday.

The Eagles defeated No. 1 seed Zion Chapel after defeating No. 3 seed Highland Home 7-3.

Now, the Eagles await the winner of an elimination game between the Rebels and HHHS.

HHHS was winless in area play this season, meaning a win for the Flying Squadron could be considered a major upset.

If Zion Chapel were to advance, it would be the fifth meeting this season between GHS and ZCHS.

The Rebels won the first two meetings, while Goshen has won the last two, both at Zion Chapel.

“It just goes to show you that with these two teams, you really have to play your best in order to win,” said GHS head coach Dee Hughes. “You have to execute. If we get runners on base, we can’t leave them there. We really do have to be at our best.”

Goshen will start Alli Warrick in the pitcher’s circle today. Warrick has been dominant as of late, especially against Zion Chapel.

Warrick started the last two games between the two schools, pitching two compete games with an ERA of 0.00.

The Rebels have scored three runs off of Warrick the last two games, but all three were unearned. Warrick has given up 9 hits and seven walks in the two contests, while striking out 23 Rebel batters, an average of 1.6 strikeouts per inning.

“Alli has just come on so strong here lately,” Hughes said. “I think a lot of people didn’t understand that she was battling an injury early on that she suffered playing fall softball, so she was doing a lot of rehabbing at the beginning of our season. But, now she’s really gotten back to where she was before, and that’s been huge for us.”

If Goshen were to lose in the championship game, another game would then be played since the tournament is double elimination and the Eagles begin the day without a loss.

Highland Home will play Zion Chapel at 3 p.m., with the winner advancing to battle Goshen at 5 p.m.