Jay stays in Olympic race (04/15/08)

The Patriots already had one conference loss.

Another would have effectively ended their chances for an Olympic Athletic Conference title. And they trailed 2-1 with just two innings remaining.

As it turned out, they wouldn't even need their final three outs.

Jay County High School's softball team racked up four of its seven hits - in a span of five at bats - in the bottom of the sixth inning Monday night. It scored three times and then got a one-two-three seventh inning from senior pitcher Amber Edmundson to knock off the visiting Anderson Highland Scots 4-2.

"I am just so proud of them," said JCHS coach Jack Wood, adding that his team seemed to incorporate all the things they had talked about during the first two weeks of the season. "We just played great tonight.

"Even when they went ahead 2-1, we stayed right with it. And you could see it in them ... They didn't get down. People were picking each other up. I just can't say enough about their effort tonight.

"And we told them after the game, that's the potential we see out of them. Maybe this game will get them over that hump."

The Patriots (5-2, 2-1 OAC) gave up the lead run - unearned - in the top of the fifth inning, but bounced back after going down one-two-three in the fourth and fifth themselves. Highland pitcher Katie Lee had retired eight consecutive batters in all before Tiffany Davis drew a one-out walk in the sixth to get the rally started.

Back-to-back singles by Pazia Speed and Lindsay Wellman plated Davis with the tying run, and left the sophomore No. 3 and 4 hitters on second and third.

Wood said the thought of having Speed bunt Davis over to second crossed his mind, but "I knew if we could get somebody on, Pazia was due. She drilled one down the line, just like Pazia does."

Speed then came charging home on a wild pitch to score the lead run, sliding just under Lee's glove as she covered home on the play. Kayla Phillips squeaked a ground ball through the right side for an RBI single and an insurance run, and Brittney Watson added another single as four of Jay County's seven hits came in the inning.

"It was just a great effort that inning," said Wood. "You could just feel it in the dugout. They were up. They were talking. And it was pretty much like that the whole game."

Davis also drove in the Patriots' first run in the third inning. Senior Trisha Champ ripped a two-out double to right field, and then Davis smacked a single to right for a 1-0 lead.

Highland (4-2, 2-1 OAC) evened the score on an RBI single by Lauren Williamson in the fourth inning and took the lead in the fifth before JCHS stormed back in the sixth.

The Patriots also made several key defensive plays. With Williamson on third base with two outs in the fourth, Phillips, the third baseman, smothered a hard-hit grounder from Abby Foltz, recovered, and threw her out to save a run.

With two runners on base and no outs in the fifth inning, Davis tracked down a fly ball to deep left field off the bat of Kayla Byrne to save at least a run.

"Tiffany went back and got that ball and just came up with a huge play," said Wood. "Kayla, I mean, that was just determination. She smothered it, came up with it and three her out.

"We just had different people stepping up and making those plays tonight. It wasn't one person. It was just a total team effort."

With two outs and runners still on first and second base in the fifth inning, Scots coach Doug Holder tried to make something happen. He called for a fake bunt to draw Phillips in from third base and sent his runners on a double steal.

However, Jay County was ready as shortstop Lindsey Wellman hustled to cover third base, taking a perfect throw from Champ and slapping the tag on Lee for the third out of the inning.

"I probably took us out of a run or two, trying the double steal like I did," said Holder. "But I felt like that was what we needed to do to keep being aggressive with the one-run lead.

"They made some plays. The left fielder made a couple plays that kept us out of at least two runs. They earned it."

The defense backed up another solid performance on the mound from Amber Edmundson, who also had a double in the game. Only one of the two runs against her was earned as she allowed just four hits.

The senior walked the leadoff hitter three times in the first four innings, but allowed it to hurt her only once. She got stronger as the game went on, retiring eight straight batters to end the game and finishing with six strikeouts.

Lee took the loss for Highland, giving up four runs on seven hits and a walk. She struck out seven.[[In-content Ad]]