Patriots hang on in opener

Haley Gillette pulled the Patriots even with the Bruins in the fifth inning.

Two batters later, Renna Schwieterman put her team on top. Then a wild pitch brought home the run that proved to be the difference.

Jay County High School’s softball team scored five runs in the fifth inning and held off a Blackford Bruin rally in the seventh to win the season opener 9-8 Monday.

“I’m just proud of the girls,” said first-year JCHS coach Trisha Green. “They came out nervous; it’s been two years since they’ve been able to play.

“I think they scared us all there in the beginning, but they got it together.”

Blackford coach Scott Cagle, whose team scored two runs in each of the first two innings and led 6-4 heading into the bottom of the fifth, said his team got a little too complacent with the early lead.

“I thought they just settled,” he said. “They were happy being up 4-nothing. There is a time where you have to be the hammer and put that nail down … I think we just got so relaxed being up 4-nothing. We quit competing.”

After Jay County (1-0) rallied to tie the score in the fourth inning, Blackford (0-1) responded with two runs in the top of the fifth.

Grace Simmons, who finished with a double and two singles, led off the frame with a single through the right side, and advanced to third on a fielder’s choice. Lilly Lamotte hit an RBI double to give the Bruins the lead again, and Alexa Hurd followed with an RBI single as well for another two-run Blackford advantage.

But Jay County freshman Mady Fraley, who doubled on the first pitch of her high school career in the first inning, led off the home half of the fifth with a single and then swiped second base. Fraley scored on a single from Aubrie Schwieterman, who also stole second.

Schwieterman advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on Gillette’s single. Olivia Bright walked, then both runners advanced on another errant pitch.

Patriot sophomore Renna Schwieterman, making her high school debut, faced a 1-2 count after two aggressive swings. On Kiley Eppard’s fourth offering, Schwieterman blooped a single to shallow right field that scored Gillette and Bright.

Schwieterman’s single knocked Eppard from the game after 4 2/3 innings.

Aubrie Schwieterman, Rieley Brewster, Fraley and Bright had multi-hit games as Jay County got at least a single from eight of its nine spots in the lineup.

Riah Champ, Haleigh Clayton and Brown each had hits as well as the Patriots racked up 13 hits.

“Our lineup is strong,” Green said. “It was hard to put them in order. Taylor Brown and Renna, it’s hard to decide which one to put in.”

Blackford got a leadoff singles from Simmons and Helen Whitesell to begin the seventh inning, and Simmons was thrown out trying to take third on Whitesell’s infield hit (Whitesell beat the Aubrie Schwieterman-to-Renna Schwieterman third-to-first throw but the toss back across the field cut down Simmons.)

An error made it 9-7 Jay County before Hurd popped out to second base. Eppard doubled to score another run and represent the potential game-tying run.

Clayton, who at one point retired seven straight Bruins and later notched four consecutive strikeouts spanning the fifth and sixth innings, got Macey Cagle on a called third strike to end the game.

“She was clutch all game,” Green said of Clayton. “She was throwing, hitting her corners. She pitched a great game. I am so proud of Haleigh. She worked so hard to get there.”

Clayton, a junior, allowed eight runs — six earned — on 12 hits with nine strikeouts in her varsity debut.

She only faced a three-ball count twice; the first was a single in the second inning and the second was a fielder’s choice in the fifth.

“We’ve got a good team,” Green said. “If they start clicking and figuring this out they’re going to win games.”