Patriots rebound for split

The Patriots didn't allow one disastrous inning to ruin their entire day.

After leading 4-0 through one inning, the Jay County High School softball team gave up 11 runs in the second and dropped the first game of their double-header Saturday 17-5 to the Yorktown Tigers in five innings. But behind a gutsy effort from sophomore Nikka Chaney on the rubber, they bounced back to salvage a split by winning game two 6-3.

"We had a bad inning there in the first game and got down and things just kind of fell apart after we were leading 4-0," said JCHS coach Doug Arbuckle, whose team is now 6-13. "The girls' spirits were down, but I was real proud with the way they turned it around in the second game.

"It's one game at a time, even one play at a time. When something is done, it's over with. ... I thought their effort and their attitude was super there in that second game."

Chaney, who missed most of last season with an injury, had not pitched for more than a year before volunteering to take the ball for the second game against Yorktown.

Each of the first two Tiger batters reached base against her, and scored, but she bounced back with consecutive strikeouts and gave up just a single run the rest of the way. She struck out five batters and walked just one, scattering seven hits over the course of the final five innings.

"I told her after the game, 'Way to step up for us,'" said Arbuckle. "We were a little shaken in the first game ... and Nikka said she could do it. It was just a super effort from her. I thought she changed her speeds well, and her pitches, and her placement, and kept them off balance. She just pitched a whale of a game, and we played some nice defense behind her."

Chaney kept Yorktown slugger Sam Jones, who homered twice in the first game, at bay, striking her out in the first inning and limiting her to just one hit in four plate appearances. She held the Tigers without an extra base hit after they had racked up four, including three homers, in the opener.

"(Chaney) was a little more effective keeping us off the ball," said Yorktown coach Chrissie Saunders. "We didn't wait. We were less patient. ... She out-manned us that second game."

Jay County immediately tied the score thanks to a couple of walks and a couple of errors in the bottom of the first inning.

They fell behind 3-2 in the fourth, but took the lead for good in the fifth after freshman Taylor Franklin led off with a single to center field.

Rachelle Jackson followed Franklin with a bunt single, and Danielle Wellman smacked an RBI double to center two batters later. Selena McKibben drove in Jackson with a double to left-center, and Alsip, courtesy running for Wellman, scored on a wild pitch.

The Patriots tacked on another run in the bottom of the sixth when Chaney led off with a walk and came around to score on an RBI single from Franklin.

McKibben and Franklin each finished 2-for-3 with a run and an RBI, and Alsip scored twice.

"Selena (McKibben) has been swinging the bat well for us," said Arbuckle, who also complimented Jackson for her two bunt singles and Franklin for her effort in game two. "She got off to a slow start, but she has really come on strong."

In the first game, Brittney Watson retired the Tigers in order in the top of the first inning and Jay County scored four times in the bottom. But everything fell apart in the second inning.

Each of the first 12 batters reached base for Yorktown, with the first 10 coming around to score. The Tigers racked up nine hits and also took advantage of three Patriot errors as seven of the runs were unearned.

Yorktown got back-to-back home runs in its three-run third inning from McKenzie LaPradd and Jones, and Jones added another home run as part of a three-run fifth.

"I was real pleased with their hitting," said Saunders, who also got a double from leadoff hitter Mackenzie Moore in the win. "We just didn't seem to keep that going into the second game. ... We made a few more defensive mistakes in the second game and that cost us."

After scoring four times in the first inning, Jay County managed just one more run the rest of the way. That came in the fifth inning when Jackson (2-for-3) led off with a single and later scored on an RBI single to right field from McKibben (2-for-3, two RBIs, run).

Watson suffered the loss, giving up 11 runs - four earned - on eight hits in one-plus innings.[[In-content Ad]]