Jay County golfers win

Jay County didn’t play very well in its first appearance of the season at Portland Golf Club on Thursday.
The Patriot girls golf team turned things around Tuesday, breaking 200 for the second time this season in a victory over the Fort Recovery Indians and Winchester Golden Falcons.
Three players shot 49, leading Jay County (6-4) to a score of 197, six strokes off its season-best score of 191 it set Aug. 26 at Golf Club of the Limberlost.
Winchester was second with 202, and the Indians (5-4) were third with a 229. Mackenzie Mehaffey of Winchester shot a 40 to earn match medalist honors.
“We broke 200 again (so) I’m happy with that,” said JCHS coach Butch Gray, whose team will host Bluffton at 4:30 p.m. Thursday and then the Allen County Athletic Conference tournament Saturday at PGC. “As I watched, I thought the girls kept their composure. They’d have a bad hole but they would still keep grinding.
“With three 49s, maybe we’ll start seeing the separation of who our top five are.”
Sydney Mathias started her round with two 6s and a 7 on her first three holes, but recovered to bogey the next three. Although she didn’t have a par on her scorecard, she did have quality bogeys, especially on the par-4 17th hole and par-3 18th.
The Patriot sophomore topped her tee shot on the 120-yard 18th, and watched in dismay as it trickled 30 yards. Her second shot rolled up onto the fringe of the green, and Mathias two-putted to close out her season-best score.
Playing from the No. 5 spot, Rachel Antrim joined Mathias in firing her season-low score. Antrim, a junior, took two strokes off the mark she set Aug. 26.
“She’s been up and down with the varsity,” Gray said of Antrim, who played in just her third nine-hole match at the varsity level. Also like Mathias, Antrim struggled through her first three holes, righted the ship on the middle three and ended her round with a bogey on 18.
Brooke Sanders was the third Patriot to shoot 49, shaving one stroke off her team-best score from Thursday. Maddison Baughn shot a 50, including making par on the 12th and 15th holes.
Also competing for Jay County were Malarie Houck and Carlie Wickey. Houck made two pars on her way to a 52, and Wickey shot a 57.
“Maybe we’ll start seeing the separation of who our top five are,” Gray said, noting he has been changing the order of those top five in an attempt to get them to relax and not put so much pressure on themselves. “(It will) be nice to know this Saturday with conference coming up. Hopefully we can come back with the same kind of performance Thursday night.”
Fort Recovery finished three strokes higher than its nine-hole average of 226, and coach Joe Bruns said he was pleased with how his girls played despite having trouble on a few holes.
“We had some girls that really grinded through,” he said. “Some took some big numbers early, but finished strong so we’re going to take some positives out of this match.”
Trisha Thien and Tori Vaughn led the Indians with matching rounds of 56. Elli Keller and Emily Bruns followed with a 58 and 59 respectively to round out the team score. Cori Stone also competed, shooting a 62.
“Right now we’re a little disappointed about the scores, but at the same time we’re going to take some bright spots from this and try to get ready for our sectional run,” Bruns said. “In year two of the program, I think we’re about where we need to be.
“Golf is one of those things where it can turn on you real quick.”

Junior varsity
The JV Patriots also got a win, beating Winchester 224-257. Fort Recovery did not have enough players to score as a team.
Sydney Robbins shot a 54 to lead the Patriots. Abby Saxman and Cassie Reno followed Robbins with matching scores of 55. Alyssa Culy rounded to the Patriots’ score with a 60.
Jess Neal (69), Gracie Runkle (70) and Madison Brown (77) also competed for Jay County.