JCHS sent home in 9 (05/24/08)

FORT WAYNE - Kayla Phillips threw to first. It was a toss that should have led her back to the plate for an at bat to lead off the top of the 10th inning.

Instead, a missed call sent the Patriots home.

Jena Hambrick reached first base a half-step after Phillips' throw got to Jay County High School first baseman Brittany Watson, but the first-base umpire called her safe. The call with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning of the Class 4A sectional championship game allowed Teresa Busse to score from third base and give the host Spartans a 2-1 victory.

"What do you say to a bunch of girls that just played their hearts out to lose a ball game like that?" said JCHS coach Jack Wood. "I'm at a loss. I don't know what to say. I don't know how you explain that. They played their hearts out.

"It's just a shame. As hard as our kids played, it's a shame."

Busse led off the bottom of the ninth inning with a walk, the only one issued in the game by Jay County pitcher Amber Edmundson. No. 9 hitter Stacey Roelke, who was 2-for-3, sacrificed her to second base, and she moved to third on Kalyn Jorgensen's ground out back to Edmundson.

Then came Hambrick's ground ball to Phillips, who bobbled the ball briefly before firing to Watson for what should have been the third out.

"It was a great softball game," said Homestead coach TomClagg, whose team is now 26-2-2 and will advance to regional action to play the winner of the West Lafayette sectional. "It's too bad that anybody had to lose it. I take my hat off to the Jay County girls. They played a terrific game.

"This is high school softball. This is what it's all about, coming down like this to the championship. ... I feel bad for them, I really do, because they played such a great game."

The loss ended the best softball season in JCHS history at 17-10, surpassing the 16 wins from last season.

The marathon game that ended in heartbreak against the Spartans was the Patriots' first appearance in a sectional title contest since 2001.

"Win or lose it, we couldn't be any more proud of them," said Wood of his team's effort. "They did everything we asked. They stuck in there ... We faced an awful good pitcher, and we just did a lot of good things. ... It's just an awful tough loss."

Homestead had runners in scoring position in each of the first three innings, but did not strike until the fourth.

Mallory Harbor led off the bottom of the inning with a single, and Becky Prince moved her to second with a sacrifice bunt. She advanced to third on a ground out by Busse, and scored when Roelke delivered a two-out, bloop single to short left field.

The Patriots responded in the sixth inning when senior Trisha Champ worked a two-out walk. Junior Tiffany Davis followed with a sharp grounder that slammed off second baseman Jorgenson's glove and deflected high in the air to short right field allowing Champ to score the tying run.

Edmundson sat down the side in order in the sixth and eighth innings, and overcame a two-error seventh inning by getting the final out on a grounder to shortstop Lindsey Wellman.

"She was on top," said Wood of Edmundson. "I thought she did a good job of hitting her spots. It was maybe one of her best games all year. ... She got ahead in the count a lot. We knew they were going to put the ball in play quite a bit, because they're pretty good hitters ... We made a lot of defensive plays, we helped her out, but she was just on top of her game tonight."

Edmundson scattered eight hits, giving up just a single earned run while striking out two batters.

"We're generally pretty good hitters," said Clagg, whose team finished without an extra-base hit after pounding Fort Wayne South Side 18-1 in Wednesday's semifinal round. "Their pitcher surprised me. She did a great job of keeping us off balance and bending and not breaking basically."

Wellman led off the Patriot half of the seventh inning with a single, and Brittney Watson opened the eight by reaching base on an error. But both times Jay County failed to get a bunt down to advance the runner and came up empty.

They went down in order in the ninth inning before the Spartans picked up the winning run.

Jacqui Matheis of Homestead earned the win, giving up the one run on three hits - Brittany Mann doubled to left field in the third inning - while striking out 15 batters and walking just two.

"Jackie threw a really nice game," said Clagg. "That's her game though. She's done that time and time again.

"Her record on the year is 14-1. Her only loss was our first game to Huntington North.

"She's done that, and today we needed it."

Despite the Spartans' five extra hits, Jay County stayed in the game thanks to a variety of great defensive plays.

With a runner on third base and one out in the third inning Erica Leeper hit a fly ball to Pazia Speed in center field. The sophomore made the catch and gunned the ball to Champ at the plate to nail Nikki Wilson, who tried to tag up from third.

Roelke reached base on an error to start the seventh inning, and Jorgensen followed with a single to left-center field. Davis, the left fielder, made a difficult stop on the bouncing ball in the gap and sent a laser beam to Phillips to cut down Roelke as she tried to take an extra base.

"It seemed like when we needed a big play, somebody came up with it. Somebody was constantly stepping up all night long. That's what this team has been about all year. We knew they were capable of doing it. We honestly believed that we could win this sectional. ... We knew we could compete tonight. And they did. They competed all night long."[[In-content Ad]]