Brewster’s bomb grounds Jets

The Jets had been flying high.

Winners of their last 13, they flew into Portland on a hot streak.

Rieley Brewster brought them back down to the ground.

Brewster hit a two-run home run to give the Patriots a lead they never gave up and Haleigh Clayton battled through pouring rain in the final inning as the Jay County High School softball team upended the Adams Central Jets 4-2 on Friday evening.

“This is a huge win,” said JCHS coach Trisha Green, whose team moves to 9-4 (2-1 Allen County Athletic Conference) and is now tied for second in the league standings with the Jets (13-2, 2-1 ACAC). “We’re right there in it. This is huge for the girls.”

Woodlan leads the conference with its 3-1 record.

Jay County, which travels to Elwood for a pair of games today, had trouble figuring out the changeup from Adams Central lefty Maddy Hill.

In the bottom of the third inning, Hill threw Aubrie Schwieterman a 1-0 changeup on the outside of the plate that Schwieterman threw her bat at and blooped a single into shallow left field.

Two pitches later, Brewster gave the Patriots a 3-1 lead by hitting an opposite field, two-run home run.

“Huge,” Green said of Brewster’s fifth home run this season, putting her in a tie for the team lead with Renna Schwieterman. “That kind of kept us going.”

And keep going they did.

In the bottom of the fifth, again with two outs, Aubrie Schwieterman ripped a single down the right-field line. She stole second base and reached third on a wild pitch before scoring on an infield error.

“She made that happen,” Green said. “She’s a go-getter. She’s a spark plug for this team. She’s a great player, great base runner.”

Adams Central, a team that lost its season opener 6-5 to Bellmont back on April 12 and finished 19th in the most recent Class 2A coaches poll, got a run back in the top of the seventh inning as the rain began to pour.

After Clayton got Taylor Ross to strike out looking, she hit Taylor Strete in the foot. Sydney Jauregui, Strete’s courtesy runner, reached second base on a wild pitch before Hill singled to put Jet runners at the corners.

Brianna Cook popped out to Brewster at third, then Sage Hammond, who was 0-for-2 with a pair of strikeouts, hit an RBI double to center field on Clayton’s eighth pitch of the at bat to score Jauregui from second.

Despite the rain, during which Clayton switched balls each time they hit the dirt because puddles started to form on the infield, Clayton got McKenna Dietsch to ground out to end the game.

“She’s so tough,” Green said of Clayton. “To see her out there when it’s scold and it’s raining … she’s an awesome player.

“Defensively she’s great. She’s throwing strikes when it’s pouring on her. She’s just the toughest girl I know.”

Adams Central grabbed a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning when Carly Black jumped on Clayton’s first offering for a two-out, solo home run.

The Jets threatened again in the fourth, getting two runners in scoring position on a pair of two-out errors, but the defensive mishaps proved insignificant as they were left stranded.

Clayton scattered four hits, struck out four and didn’t issue a walk in the complete-game effort of 105 pitches.

“I have 100% confidence in Haleigh Clayton,” Green said. “She is a solid player. They hit them over the fence and it doesn’t rattle her. Nothing is hurt. She is going to come back, battle back. She’s just a great player. She’s got a great attitude.”

Sisters Aubrie and Renna Schwieterman had two hits apiece, with the latter smacking a double. Olivia Bright also had a single.

“They played great,” Green said. “They came out solid every inning. We were able to get a few hits together and score enough runs.

“I usually like a more high-scoring game, but they played great.”