Jet freshman hurts Jay (05/19/05)

MONROE — Jay County couldn’t get a winning streak going in their final game before the sectional. The Adams Central Flying Jets, on the other hand, found a bat which could help them greatly come tournament time.

In her first varsity game freshman Aubri Malone drove in runs in back-to-back innings to help Adams Central to a 5-2 victory Wednesday over the Patriot softball team.

“We had a shaky start at the beginning,” said Adams Central coach Cary Blake, whose team escaped the first three innings giving up just one run despite allowing eight Jay County batters to reach base. “We made a few errors, but we’re a young team starting four freshmen. ... Overall I thought we did a pretty good job.”

After getting out of the early trouble, it was Malone who jump-started the Jet offense to increase a 2-1 advantage after three innings.

Ashley Adkison walked to lead off the Adams Central fourth, and Malone bumped up the lead when she came up two batters later. Her first career hit was a line-drive, RBI double into the left-field corner. That shot brought Adkison around to score, and Malone later came in on an RBI grounder from Shelbi Barger.

Malone stepped to the plate again with two outs and runners on first and second in the bottom of the fifth inning. She smacked and RBI single to center field, bringing Chelsey Brunner in for a 5-2 lead.

In all, she finished 2-for-3 with a double, a run and two RBIs.

“We just brought her up from the JV,” said Blake. “We want to give a couple kids a look here to see (what they can do) for sectional. You always like it when you give a kid a shot and they make the coach look good.”

Barger also had a pair of RBIs for the Jets, and Justina Andrews singled and drove in a run. Tori Bluhm and Brunner each had one hit and one run.

Freshman starter Alex Bailey earned the win, allowing two runs on five hits in six innings. Katie Mitchel pitched a scoreless seventh for the save.

Jay County out-hit Adams Central in the contest, 6-5, but could not string anything together to start a rally. It left six runners on base in the first three innings and nine in all, and managed just a single run in the second and third innings despite four Jet errors during the span.

“We just didn’t show a lot of heart and enthusiasm,” said JCHS coach Jack Wood, whose team had runners in scoring position in six of the seven innings. “We didn’t play that bad defensively. ... but we just didn’t have the people step up and hit tonight. We just had a total lack of enthusiasm tonight. It’s the same thing that’s happened in several of our losses.”

The Patriots six hits were garnered by three players as Amber Champ, Chelsea DeBoy and Erica Murray each finished with two. They scored once in the third inning as Murray singled and came around on an error, and once in the sixth when Andrea Current walked and scored on a Morgan Locke sacrifice fly.

The walk by Current was one of just two for Jay County, while Adams Central took advantage of seven free passes.

Shae Keller took the loss, allowing four runs on three hits in 31/3 innings. She walked four and struck out one.

The loss capped the regular season at 8-15 for Jay County, which will open sectional play against Mississinewa Monday at Blackford. Mississinewa ended the Patriots’ season in the first-round of sectional play last year, 2-1.

“We’ve got to play with some emotion and heart,” said Wood, whose team needs one more win to match last season’s total. “These girls are talented softball players. I think they’ve just got to step up and get some confidence in themselves and be aggressive at the plate.”[[In-content Ad]]