3 in a row

An inning that could have been disastrous ended up turning the tide for the Patriots.
Jay County scored eight times in the fourth inning, erasing a one-run deficit on the way to its third straight five-inning victory — 18-8 over the visiting Muncie Southside Rebels.
With one out already in the fourth and the Patriots trailing 8-7, Nikka Chaney was ejected for arguing balls and strikes. Abbey Vance took over the at bat and reached base on a hard-hit ground ball that shortstop Keshia Bell couldn’t handle to start the eight-run rally.
“They had a young lady come in there in a tough situation with two strikes,” said Southside coach Bob Harber. “You never know, that could have been the difference in this game. She got that hard-hit ground ball that everyone else fed off of and the next thing you know she was batting again that inning.”
Three of the next four JCHS batters drew walks, and then the top of the order blew the game open. Chelsea Tighe crushed a bases-clearing triple to center field, Rachelle Jackson followed with a double to left-center and Catherine Dunn added a triple to left.
The trio finished off the game in the fifth after Betsy Huffman drew a leadoff walk. Tighe delivered another triple, this time to left field, and Jackson and Dunn notched back-to-back singles for the 10-run final margin.
Tighe, Jackson and Dunn combined for nine of the Patriots’ 10 hits and 10 of their 11 RBIs. Katlin Petro drew four walks and scored three times, and Huffman finished with three walks and three runs.
“We’ve got 10 girls hitting over .300 and three now over .400,” said JCHS coach Doug Arbuckle. “It’s there. These girls can put the bat on the ball. … I just like that balance throughout the lineup that we can score runs all the way through the lineup.”
The Patriots (8-5), who beat Southside 23-2 on April 12, jumped on top with two runs in the first inning. The teams traded the lead five times before JCHS took control in the fourth.
Vance picked up with win in relief as she gave up one hit to the Rebels (4-8) and struck out one batter in one scoreless inning.
Chaney will serve an automatic one-game suspension tonight when the Patriots visit Marion.

Junior varsity
Jay County cruised to a 13-6 victory over the Rebels.
Jenna Ferguson went 2-for-2 with two runs and two RBIs for the Patriots. Courtney Finnerty earned the win as all six Southside runs against her were unearned.

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