Starfire stunner

BERNE — The Starfires hope their effort in the season opener is an indication of what they can accomplish this year. The Patriots just want to forget it as soon as possible.
Jay County seemed to have Tuesday’s game in hand, but host South Adams scored six times in the bottom of the seventh to rally for an 11-10 victory over the Patriots.
“I don’t really know what to think right now,” said SAHS junior Alyssa Bluhm after the tying and winning runs scored following her single to center field. “It’s just crazy how we came back and did that.”
Jay County (0-1) led 9-2 after scoring six times in the fourth inning and was still up 10-5 heading into the bottom of the seventh, but its mistakes helped give the Starfires a chance.
Two errors, two singles, a hit batsman and a Reba Morehouse double pulled SAHS to within 10-9 and set the stage for Bluhm.
With runners on first and third, the three-year starter smacked a single to center field.
Maddie Morgan scored from third on the play, and Brandy Rogers rounded second base and headed for third. Rachelle Jackson’s relay throw from center fielder Courtney Finnerty caromed off of Rogers and into foul territory along the third-base line, allowing the South Adams junior to scurry home with the game-winning run.
“Coach was telling me to stop and not go to third and I was already halfway so I just had to keep going,” said Rogers, who had reached base on an error. “And then it was a bad throw and it went off my helmet or something. I don’t know what happened. Oh my gosh, I’m so excited.
“My heart was racing and I just got so pumped because I just won the game for my team. It was so exciting.”
South Adams sent nine batters to the plate in the final frame after going down in order in the sixth. Four of their runs were unearned.
“I thought we were sitting good,” said JCHS coach Doug Arbuckle. “We just couldn’t make the plays there in the seventh inning. … They weren’t difficult plays, we just didn’t make the routine plays to get us the win.”
It was a deflating loss for a Jay County squad that won 15 games a year ago and has designs on breaking the school record of 17 wins this season. The Patriots will try to put the defeat behind them in a hurry.
“It’s the first game of the year. If we play them all, we’ve got 27 more ball games. We’ve got to let this go,” Arbuckle said. “They feel really bad about it, but we can’t let this hang with us. We’ll come back Thursday against a good Delta team and see what we can do. We’ve just got to forget about this and move on.”
Morehouse led the Starfire offense as she came off the bench to go 2-for-3 with two doubles, two runs and two RBIs. She scored her first run when she and Morgan executed a double steal in the fourth inning.
Bluhm had two hits, a run and an RBI, Rachel Hirschy notched two hits and Alaina Johnston scored twice.
Loren Sparks got the win in relief of Bluhm, striking out one batter in one scoreless inning.
SAHS coach Jessie O’Dell hopes the victory can catapult his team toward its first winning season since capturing the sectional title in 2009.
“If we get beat 10-5 or 10-6 because we made … mistakes, we come back the next night feeling down in the dumps,” he said. “Hopefully tonight will start us off for a season where we always know that we’re in the game.”
Vance suffered the loss in relief of Jackson, giving up six runs — two earned — on four hits in two innings.
Jay County packed all of its runs into third, fourth and fifth innings, with junior Katie Aker recording the key hit with a two-run single in the third.
Aker went 1-for-3 with three RBIs and a run, and freshman catcher Gabby Hart had two infield singles, two RBIs and a run. Chelsea Tighe, Katlin Petro and Jackson each scored twice.[[In-content Ad]]