Jay stops Stars in 5 (05/08/08)

The Patriots and Starfires have both been on roller coaster rides, just different ones.

For the former, it has been a bumpy ride of quick ups and downs - they have not won more than three in a row this year or lost more than two straight. The latter has enjoyed some mammoth highs - seven straight wins at the No. 6 ranking in the state - but also hit some big valleys.

On Wednesday night it was the Jay County High School softball team hitting the upswing again, hammering the visiting South Adams Starfires 14-4 in five innings.

"We came right out and hit the ball, against a pretty good pitcher," said JCHS coach Jack Wood, whose team struggled a week ago but has put up double-digit runs in three of its last four games. "We hit the ball real well. I just wish I could figure it all out game by game."

His squad has baffled South Adams coach Jeff Bradtmiller at times as well. The Starfires opened with seven straight wins, then lost four in a row to Allen County Athletic Conference opponents, won three more and now have lost back-to-back games to Woodlan and Jay County by a combined 22-7.

"The big thing is executing on defense," said Bradtmiller. "We've had some mental lapses.

"To their credit, we've done an excellent job of putting the ball in play. We've hit the ball, we've been solid there, we've had decent pitching, we just have mental breakdowns, whether that be offensively or defensively that shoot us in the foot.

"Every single one of our conference games we've had one bad inning that has cost us a game. Until we sharpen up upstairs, it's going to be tough."

The Starfires (10-5), who finished 11th in the Class 2A voting by the Indiana Coaches of Girls Sports Association this week, took a one-run lead in the top of the first inning. JCHS responded with two in the bottom, and South Adams pushed ahead again with two in the top of the second. The rest of the game was all Patriots.

Jess Piercey, who hit her first career home run Saturday, opened the rally with a ground rule double down the right field line. Trisha Champ followed with a walk, and she and Piercey advanced to second and third respectively on the wild pitch.

A double by Tiffani Davis brought Piercey to the plate, and Pazia Speed followed with a two-run single to center field. Lindsey Wellman then broke the game open with a two-run blast a few feet to the left of the flagpole in center field.

In the third inning Lauren Edmundson doubled and scored on Champ's single to center, and in the third Wellman and Phillips each singled and Piercey drove them both in with another hit to right field to make it 10-3.

"Jess Piercey is really swinging a hot bat here lately," said Wood of the junior, who went 2-for-3 with the double, a run and two RBIs. "She hit a home run Saturday, had a base hit last night at Blackford and a couple hits tonight. She is really just seeing the ball real well right now and putting it in play."

The chance for the Starfires to rally came in the fifth inning, when they picked up three of their seven hits. But a pair of great defensive plays by Jay County shut them down.

With no outs, Ashton Morgan broke from first base while Tabitha Hoose was on third. Champ, the Patriot catcher, threw down to second to try to get the out, and Morgan broke back to first, hoping to give Hoose a chance to score. Instead, Lindsey Wellman took the throw from Champ and fired to first baseman Amber Edmundson, who tagged out Morgan while Hoose stayed put on third.

Hoose still scored on Hali Feaster infield single, and Kayla Minnich followed with a single to right field to put runners on first and third again. This time when Minnich broke for second, Champ faked the throw, turned and fired to Kayla Phillips at third to pick off Feaster for the second out of the frame. Davis then struck out Jordan Lehman to end the threat.

"We actually had the same thing happen last night in the Blackford game, a play at third like that," said Wood. "Trish comes up and makes a great fake and rifles it down to third. Those are the type of things that we work on. Tonight we were able to execute them."

Jay County finished off the game in the bottom of the fifth, scoring twice on a single to left field from Phillips and twice when Candace Betz reached base on an error.

"We've been trying to preach, 'Let's put the pressure on them,'" said Bradtmiller. "And we can do that the way we've been hitting the ball. And then you have base-running mistakes, you have fielding mistakes. You're putting the pressure on yourself."

Pazia Speed had three hits to lead the Patriots, and Phillips, Champ, Wellman and Davis joined Piercey with two apiece. Wellman had three RBIs and two runs, Davis scored three times and drove in two runs, Phillips finished with two runs and two RBIs and Champ had two runs and one RBI.

The Patriots also got good news today as the IHSAA held the draw for the state tournament. They got the bye and will play Marion, which they beat 4-3 earlier this year, in the semifinal round. (See related story.)

Davis picked up the victory, giving up four runs - three earned - on seven hits and two walks. She struck out two batters.

"I think she's getting a little more endurance to her now," said Wood. "Earlier in the year we would see in about the fourth inning she was getting tired. Now she's throwing strikes, she's not wasting as many pitches, we played defense behind her. It's kind of all came together."

Morgan, who led SAHS by going 2-for-3 with a run, took the defeat. She gave up the 14 Patriot runs on 14 hits and four walks while striking out four.

Bradtmiller said a great thing about softball is that his team will have a chance to bounce back again tonight and forget about the previous two games.

"Hopefully another good thing is we're playing AC at home," he said of the conference and county rival Adams Central Flying Jets. "If they can't get up for them, they can't get up for anybody. And I truly believe that they'll respond."[[In-content Ad]]