Jay track places fourth at Oak Hill co-ed relays

CONVERSE — The Patriots weren’t in a conventional meet, but that didn’t hurt their success.

The Jay County High School track teams combined to finish fourth at the Oak Hill Co-ed Relays on Saturday.

The Patriots tallied 79 points in the meet that combined the times or distances of two girls with two boys from each school. Host Oak Hill ended up in first place with 158 points to edge out Delta by just one. Bluffton was the only other of the ten total teams to finish ahead of Jay County with 101 points.

The Patriots took second place in two events. Adam Alig played a part in both events, setting new career bests in the process. In the 300-meter hurdles, he finished in 43.76 seconds. Kaiden Reynolds, the other boy, added a time of 49.31 seconds, while Morgan DeHoff and Makinsey Murphy had times of 52.43 seconds and 55.59 seconds to make up the girls legs.

Alig broke the 6-foot mark to lead the high jump team to a second-place finish as well. Joining him were Peyton Yowell (5 feet, 10 inches), Molly Muhlenkamp (4 feet, 10 inches) and Jenna Dues (4 feet, 8 inches).

Split with starfires

BERNE — Fort Recovery’s baseball team split with the South Adams Starfires on Saturday, dropping the first game 4-1 before claiming game No. 2 by a score of 6-3.

A two-out double from Alex Dues got the senior into scoring position before Reece Wendel followed with a single to put the Indians (3-2) up 1-0 in the fifth inning of the first game.

The Starfires (3-2) took over in the sixth as Derek McKean drew a walk before Owen Wanner blasted a home run to take the lead. Two more runs scored in the frame on a single and a pair of doubles. Sage Wendel suffered the loss.

SAHS and FRHS traded runs over the first three innings of the second game before the Indians broke out with a 3-run fourth inning. Gavin Faller and Troy Homan both opened with singles before freshman Caden Homan’s double plated Faller. Troy Homan soon scored on a wild pitch, with Caden Homan following suit two at bats later.

The teams traded runs in the fifth and sixth inning as they held on for the win.

Caden Grisez earned the win by pitching the first 4.2 innings, in which he struck out eight batters. Rex Leverette picked up his first save of the year, striking out four over the final 2.1 innings.

Tribe takes one

AYERSVILLE, Ohio — The Fort Recovery softball team took one of two games at a tournament hosted by Ayersville on Saturday. The Tribe dropped its first game to the Elmwood Royals 3-7 before beating the Edon Bombers 15-7.

The Indians (3-4) jumped on top of the Bombers (0-7) early by scoring four quick runs. Then a six-run sixth inning put them in control.

Edon answered back with six runs in the top of the fourth, but five more for FRHS in the sixth sealed the deal. Emma Will and Britney Tebbe combined for seven RBIs in the game, while Kayla Hietkamp added two on a home run. Jenna Homan earned the win with eight strikeouts despite seven runs.

A six-run third inning spoiled the Indians’ chances against the Royals (3-4). Tebbe suffered the loss, giving up seven runs – only four of which were earned – in 2.2 innings of work.

Patriots all split

CHARLOTTESVILLE — The Jay County girls tennis team had two consolation victories and three runners-up at the Eastern Hancock Invitational on Saturday.

Zion Beiswanger and Chloe Ruiz picked up their first varsity wins of their careers as they beat the No. 2 doubles team from Seton Catholic smoothly 6-0, 6-0. In the championship match, they only managed to win one game as Eastern Hanock’s duo won 6-1, 6-0.

Maggie Dillon beat Blue River’s No. 3 singles player by a score of 6-1, 6-0 to advance to the championship, while Brenna Bailey received a bye in the No. 2 singles position.

Both fell to opponents from Eastern Hancock in the title match. Bailey lost her match 6-3, 6-2. Dillons opponent, who was the Royal’s No. 1 singles player in previous seasons, pulled away for a 6-4, 6-3 victory.

Brenna Haines fell behind early in the No. 1 singles opener, leading to her losing her first match of the season 6-4, 6-4 to her opponent from Eastern Hancock.