JC scores tourney W

FORT WAYNE - April was torture for the Patriots.

Opening with just three wins in their first 14 games, what they thought was a season with great potential was well on its way to disaster. However, starting with an 8-1, May 4 win over Fort Recovery, the Jay County High School softball team has done a 180.

JCHS continued their trend of resurgence Wednesday, avenging a regular-season loss with a 6-2 victory over the Huntington North Vikings in the semifinal round of the Class 4A sectional tournament at Homestead.

"We've had some ups and downs this year, but they've turned it around and they believe in themselves," said Patriot coach Doug Arbuckle, whose team is now 10-13. "That's what it takes. They're playing their best ball right now, and they know that."

"To come out here today and get this win against Huntington North - just a super ball team, coach (Paris) Seibold does a wonderful job with that program - I'm not sure, but that might be our first victory ever over Huntington North. To get them here in the sectional, it's just a super job by the girls."

The victory means Jay County, which has now won five straight and is 7-2 in May, and the host Spartans will meet in their third straight sectional championship game Friday at 7 p.m. The Patriots dropped each of the two previous match-ups, 10-0 in five innings last season and 2-1 in nine innings in 2008.

The winner will advance to play in a one-game regional Tuesday at DeKalb, which won its sectional championship game Wednesday 9-0 over Snider.

Jay County trailed the Vikings (15-7) 1-0 following an Alyssa Grabner home run in the third inning, but claimed the lead after junior shortstop Kendra Younger drew a one-out walk in the fourth. Brittney Watson, the lone senior in the Patriots' starting lineup, followed the walk with a single to center field, and an error sent the runners to second and third bases with Nikka Chaney coming to the plate.

Chaney has had a bit of a rough year as her batting average sits below .200, but she had already singled in the second inning and she came through again with two runners in scoring position. The sophomore crushed a double to the gap in left-center field, bringing Younger and Watson to the plate and giving JCHS the lead for good.

"She still is very positive, enthusiastic, tries to keep the girls up," said Arbuckle of Chaney. "She just does a wonderful job with that attitude. To go 2-for-4 tonight is just a big game for her."

The score remained tight until the top of the seventh inning, when the Patriots broke the game open after a single from freshman Taylor Franklin to lead off the frame. Abbey Vance reached base thanks to an error as she tried to sacrifice Franklin over to second base, and then Rachelle Jackson got on with a bunt single that got past pitcher Maureen Lund as she tried to catch it on the fly.

Lexie Gierhart brought home a run with a sacrifice fly, Danielle Wellman knocked an RBI single to center and Younger added a two-run single to left to extend the lead to 6-1.

Huntington North, the North Central Conference champions, managed one run in the seventh inning before pitcher Rachelle Jackson snagged a line drive back to the mound to end the game.

Jackson repeatedly worked out of trouble, getting pop-ups on the infield to end the first, third and sixth innings. She also struck out Laura Daronatsy to escape a bases-loaded situation in the fourth.

The freshman finished with six strikeouts as she earned her sixth victory of the year.

"Rachelle has been pitching some real good games here lately," said Arbuckle "She's not letting things get to her. She ... moves the ball around well. It's not always about the strikeouts.

"If you make them hit bad pitches, you get pop ups, you get easy ground balls, that's just as good. Hats off to her. She did an excellent job out there on the mound."

Huntington North had repeated opportunities to score, leaving the bases loaded in the fourth inning and two runners on base in both the third and sixth. It also got a single from Jordie Close to start the game, only to have the opening inning end on a double play.

"We couldn't quite get that one hit to spring it open," said Seibold. "If we get that one hit, it's probably a different game. ...

"We just weren't very confident up there hitting. We only had a couple hard-hit balls, too many pop ups. (Jackson) did a great job. She kept us off balance a little bit. And we just didn't hit."[[In-content Ad]]