Fort Recovery swim falls to St. Henry

FORT RECOVERY — The girls scraped out a two-point victory.

Yet the Eels couldn’t pull out the victory.

The Fort Recovery Eels summer swim team fell to the St. Henry Stingrays 645-533 on Tuesday at Ambassador Pool.

The girls tallied 377 points, while St. Henry collected 375. The boys could only manage 156 to St. Henry’s 270.

The Eels claimed 29 victories out of the 82 events.

Korbin Ranly put together the strongest day with a trio of wins in the boys 9-10-year-old division. He earned the top spot in the 25-meter butterfly, 25 backstroke and 25 freestyle.

Five more boys earned single wins, while the 9-10-year-old boys relay teams both won.

Rozlyn Diller, Livy Timmerman and Hailey Wenning all won a pair of events for the girls. Diller and Wenning both competed in the 11-12-year-old division with the former capturing the 50 butterfly and 50 breaststroke while the latter handled the 50 backstroke and 100 individual medley.

Timmerman won the 50 butterfly and 50 backstroke for the 13-14-year-old girls.

The girls won 13 more events, including three divers and five relays.

Kiwanis advances

Fourth-seeded Kiwanis took down No. 5 seed Lions Club 8-1 on Tuesday in the opening round of the Portland Junior League Willie Mays baseball tournament.

Griffen Lambert and Easton Steed had standout days for Kiwanis at the plate. Lambert went 3-for-3 at the plate with two RBIs and two runs scored. Steed hit a single and an inside-the-park home run to drive himself in for his only run of the game.

L.J. Carter matched Lambert with two RBIs, while Royce Kaigler and Brantly Robinson each had one.

Gabe Lutes walked three times for Lions Club. He scored the only run of the game for the team on a double by Drew Lingo.

Kiwanis will move on to play top-seeded Display Craft tonight at 5:30 p.m. for a chance to reach Friday’s championship against No. 2 seed PG14.

PG14 wins

No. 2 PG14 punched a spot in the Portland Junior League Willie Mays baseball championship by beating third-seeded Optimist 8-1 on Tuesday.

Eli Homan and Beckham Hough ended up being the stars of the show for PG14. Both players slashed a perfect 3-for-3 from the plate with five combined extra-base hits. Hough ended with a game-high four RBIs, while Homan had two.

The pair also dominated on the mound. Homan started the game by striking out eight batters over three innings before Hough closed with five punchouts over two.

Oaklin Blunk, Cash Reynolds and Bruce VanSkyock each hit a double for Optimist, but Blunk’s was the only one to drive in a run.

PG14 will face the winner of today’s semifinal between No. 1 seed Display Craft and fourth-seeded Kiwanis on Friday at 7:15 p.m.

May leads

Top-seeded Cook’s Nursery defeated No. 4 seed William’s Auto Parts 12-7 on Tuesday in the Portland Junior League Rookie baseball semifinal.

Max May led the way for Cook’s Nursery with two triples and a double to finish 3-for-3 at the plate.

Brett Huntsman matched May with three hits, including a double for William’s Auto Parts.

Both teams ended with six batters slashing a line of 2-for-3 at the dish. Cook’s Nursery’s six batters were Kayden Alberson, Kolby Armstrong, James Bruggerman, Trey Hirschey, Steven Robbins and Brantley Stager. William’s Auto Parts got production from Dax Davis, Wyatt Fenning, Thobe Keller, Hudson Roussey, Zander Williams and Daylon Winters.

Cook’s Nursery will compete in Friday’s championship game.

Forge wins

Portland Forge pulled out a 9-7 win over Loy’s Auction to close out the regular season on Tuesday in Portland Junior League Sandy Koufax baseball.

Brayden Gruntle provided a big two-run home run for Portland Forge to put a pair of runs on the board. Cooper Reynolds, Cohen Shimp and Jackson Wasson all followed suit with two RBIs for the team, while Andrew Day added one.

Sam Wiggins blasted a pair of homers to answer back for Loy’s Auction. Grant Fenning and Caleb Sibray both crossed home plate twice as well. Fenning initially reached base on a double and a walk, while Sibray worked two walks.

The two teams have the chance to meet again in the playoffs that start today with the semifinal game at 5:30 p.m. and the championship to follow.

Jacob Foote slings in a fastball for the Fort Recovery ACME baseball team in its 2-1 win over St. Henry on Tuesday. Foote went the distance on the mound for the Indians, only giving up one earned run on six hits without issuing a walk. (The Commercial Review/Andrew Balko)

 

Foote leads

FORT RECOVERY — The Fort Recovery ACME baseball team took down St. Henry 2-1 on Tuesday to earn the No. 3 seed in the Mercer County ACME sectional tournament.

The Indians (5-4) got off to a hot start in the first inning, taking a 2-0 lead. Austin Siegrist smacked a single and swiped second base before Caden Grisez could drive him in for the first run of the game. Three batters later, Grisez scored on a single by Luke Fortkamp to left field.

Jacob Foote never relinquished the lead, going the distance for Fort Recovery on the mound. While he only struck out two batters, he didn’t issue a walk the entire game and gave up six hits.

St. Henry finally scored its first run in the top of the seventh inning after a leadoff double and a two-out single, but couldn’t manage to tie the Indians.

The Indians draw a first round matchup with sixth-seeded Parkway today at approximately 7 p.m. in St. Henry. The winner will go on to play No. 2 Marion Local on Friday.

St. Henry, who will be hosting the first four games of the tournament, earned the No. 4 seed and will face off against fifth-seeded Celina today. The winner matchups up with top-seeded Coldwater on Friday’s quarterfinal.

Jay falls

BLUFFTON — The Jay County summer swim team finally fell in a dual meet against Wells Community swim team 607-525 on Tuesday.

Jay County only managed to win 25 of the 58 events at the meet.

Three swimmers still excelled despite the loss with three first-place finishes.

Carysn Guggenbiller handled the 9-10-year-old girls division with victories in the backstroke, breaststroke and short freestyle.

Henry Warvel was the youngest triple-event winner, topping the boys 8-and-younger long freestyle, butterfly and breaststroke.

Jay County dominated the boys 13-14-year-old division with Carson Westgerdes and Cooper Glentzer each winning a trio of events.

Westgerdes claimed the butterfly, individual medley and breaststroke while Glentzer dominated the long freestyle, backstroke and short freestyle.

Glentzer also competed in the 2024 Indiana Open Water Championships at Geist Waterfront Park in Fishers. He finished sixth in the 1,200-meter race.