Heitkamp leads FMB

Erika Heitkamp sparked First Merchants Bank Thursday as it scored eight runs in its final two at bats to pull away from Loy Real Estate and Auction for a 10-5 victory over in Portland Junior League Rookie softball.
In PJL Rookie baseball games Wednesday, Pak-A-Sak defeated Jay County Monuments 17-16 and Ponderosa topped Barnett’s Auto Parts 16-11.
Heitkamp led First Merchants with three runs and three hits, including an RBI double in the third inning and a two-run single in the fourth. Ashley Byer went 3-for-3 with four RBIs.
Haley Gillette had three hits, two runs and an RBI for Loy in the defeat.
Tyler Manor scored the game-winning run for Pak-A-Sak on a single by Blake Johnson as the team tallied six fourth-inning runs for the comeback victory. Christian Hummer had three hits, four RBIs and three runs to pace Ponderosa.

Rockets edge HU
HUNTINGTON — Trevor Kill earned his second straight save Thursday as the Portland Rockets edged the Huntington University Foresters 7-6.
With the tying run on second base in the ninth inning, Kill induced a ground ball for the final out. He also earned the save in Tuesday’s 2-0 win over the Decatur Dirty Birds.
Daniel Bollenbacher, South Adams High School class of 2008, tossed three shutout innings of relief for the win. He struck out six batters and gave up just one hit.
Brady Roundtree paced the Rockets with three hits, and Geoff Bowers and Thomas McCowan (Jay County) added two apiece. The victory pushed first-place Portland’s record to 5-1 in the Heartland League and 7-4 overall.

Wells tops swimmers
BLUFFTON — Eliza Bader racked up five victories Thursday, but the Jay County Summer Swim Team fell short in a 558-502 loss to Wells Community.
Bader owned the 8-and-younger division, winning the short freestyle, long freestyle, butterfly, backstroke and breaststroke. Jay County won 29 of 56 individual events overall, but fell short to drop to 1-1 on the season.
The team also won every individual girls event in the 11-and-older divisions. Sydney Mathias and Alex Bader teamed to sweep the 11-12-year-old events, Anne Vormohr and Sophie Bader won the 13-14-year-old races and Mary Hudson and Eme Miller took the 15-and-older events.
Adding two wins apiece were Ian Reynolds and Wiley Young.[[In-content Ad]]