No. 5 Norwell tops JC

The Patriots walked away with their third loss in the last four games.
However, coach Lea Selvey was able to find plenty of positives in the way his squad played against one of the best teams in the state.
Jay County stayed with the Class 3A No. 5 Norwell Knights through four innings Tuesday before fading to a 9-2 defeat.
“I don’t like getting beat, but when I look back today … there’s just a couple of little things that we did that we’ll get better at,” said Selvey, whose team trailed just 4-2 midway through the game before Norwell pulled away.  “After the Wapahani game, I was a little embarrassed. … Tonight we played probably the toughest team we’ll play and we held our own.
“We’re playing some people in this stretch here that are pretty good — state power teams. … I want them to see how close we really are. It could have been a closer game than it was. We can get there.”
The Patriots fell 10-0 to Wapahani Thursday and then lost the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader 14-3 to Connersville. But they didn’t back down against a Norwell squad that has been to the state championship game three times in the last decade.
The Knights (9-2) tallied the first four runs of the game before Chance Fuller led off the bottom of the fourth inning with a walk and Andre Duke followed with a single to right field.
Fuller was cut down at home plate, but Duke and Dustin Selvey, who reached base on a fielder’s choice, scored when Jordan McBride smacked a two-out double to right-center.
The Patriots didn’t score again, but had runners on base in each of the final three innings. Duke finished 1-for-1 with two walks.
“That’s more like what Andre did last year,” said Selvey. “He got a good, key hit and was constantly on base. … He’s starting to come around.”
Norwell responded with back-to-back doubles from Jonah Patten and Tailur Szarneski to lead off the two-run fifth inning. And it got another double from Austin Dantzer as part of a three-run sixth.
Robbie Ritter went 2-for-3 with a walk, three runs and a stolen base from the No. 9 spot in the order. Five of the Knights’ nine runs came from their bottom four hitters.
“The kid at the very bottom, the Ritter kid, has struggled,” said Norwell coach Kelby Weybright. “He comes away with two hits and a walk and does some positive things. It is good when those kids come up when we struggled at the top today.”
Josh VanMeter, a junior who has committed to pitch for Coastal Carolina in college, got the win for Norwell as he finished with seven strikeouts. He gave up two runs on four hits and two walks in five innings.
Jonah Patten, a sophomore, struck out five batters in two innings to close out the game.
“We saw a kid that’s going to Coastal Carolina, Division I, and then they follow him up with a kid who has a chance to get drafted some day,” said Selvey. “And we were putting the ball in play. I’m pleased with that.”
Kyle Selvey had two hits for the Patriots, and McBride and Jason Houston each had one.
Andy Haffner suffered the loss, giving up seven runs — six earned — on six hits and two walks in five-plus innings. But he struck out three batters, including VanMeter twice, and kept the Knights fairly off balance.
“Offensively it took us a little while to get going,” said Weybright, whose team’s first extra-base hit came in the fifth inning. “Soft-throwing lefties drive us crazy. They drive everybody crazy. That’s why it’s nice to have one.
Kyle Selvey followed Haffner and Ty Huntsman on the mound and struck out the side in order in the seventh inning.[[In-content Ad]]