Murgaw, Indians end Jay County's season (05/25/04)

HARTFORD CITY — Jay County started its softball season against the Mississinewa Indians. Unfortunately, it ended the year against them too.

The Patriots saw their season end Monday in a 2-1 loss as Mississinewa’s Lacey Murgaw pounded a pair of big hits in the first round of sectional action at Blackford.

Murgaw doubled in the fourth inning and scored the first run for the Indians, then tripled in the sixth to set up the game-winner.

“(Murgaw) and (Heather) Swarts have been our best hitters,” said Mississinewa coach Steve Miller, whose team lost a 7-6, eight-inning contest to Jay County to start the year. “They’ve flip-flopped in the third and fourth spots all year. Lacey’s on a streak right now. She got the job done tonight like she’s supposed to.”

Murgaw’s run in the fourth inning gave the Indians (7-16-1) a 1-0 lead, but the Patriots pulled even with one in the top of the sixth. Then Murgaw did her damage again.

Leading off the bottom of the sixth, the Mississinewa clean-up hitter crushed a triple over the head of Miranda Betz in right field. She then gave way to pinch runner Shelly Masters, who hustled home for what would be the winning run after a pitch by Brittany Logue caromed off catcher Erica Murray’s shin guard.

Indian starter Molly Mathias induced three ground ball outs to finish the game in the seventh inning.

“We talked all last week that this was going to be a good ball game and a close ball game, and it might come down to a play or a hit,” said Jay County coach Jack Wood. “We’ve just struggled the last few games of the year hitting the ball. We made contact tonight, but we didn’t hit the ball hard.”

Murgaw’s first hit was a double to right-center field with one out in the fourth inning. She advanced to third on a wild pitch, and Christy Mellor reached first base on an infield single. Mellor moved to second base without a throw from Murray, and then Britne Wimmer smacked a grounder to Chelsea DeBoy.

DeBoy tried to cut down Murgaw at home, but the throw hit her in the back as she slid in safely with the first Indian run. Murgaw — who had two hits, including a two-run home run, in the first game against Jay County — finished 2-for-3.

Luckily for Mississinewa, Mathias did not duplicate her season-opening performance.

After getting knocked around for six runs in 4 1/3 innings in her first outing against the Patriots, Mathias limited them to one unearned run on two hits in the sectional game. She struck out three and walked one to earn the victory.

“Molly’s a senior this year and she played behind a lot of seniors last year,” said Miller. “We had eight seniors last year and she didn’t get a whole lot of time. She’s paid her dues, and I thought she did a real nice job.”

Mississinewa will play Blackford in the semifinal round Wednesday at 5 p.m., with Delta taking on Tipton in the second semifinal contest at 7:30 p.m. The host Bruins won their first-round game 7-3 Monday over Elwood.

Jay County scored its only run after Jenni Chittum got on base thanks to a two-out error in the sixth inning by Wimmer in right field. Stephanie Imel singled to right to bring her home, and advanced to third thanks to another error.

But Imel could not score, and Murgaw and Mathias combined to give Mississinewa the win.

The lack of Patriot hitting — the only hit other than Imel’s was a lead-off single by Amber Champ in the first inning — wasted an outstanding effort by junior pitcher Brittany Logue. She gave up just two runs — one earned — on four hits in six innings.

Logue struck out three and walked one.

“They didn’t quit,” said Wood. “Brittany Logue pitched a great ball game. She’s been pitching well for us. She’s really come along.”

The loss ended Jay County’s season at 9-17, the best mark since going 10-15 and reaching the sectional championship game in 2001. Wood said he was proud of the way the team improved this year.

“What a group of seniors,” said the first-year coach. “They’re a great bunch. I think they instilled in the underclassmen that we weren’t going to quit, we weren’t going to give up. We don’t have any reason to hang our heads or anything to be ashamed of. It was a great effort.”[[In-content Ad]]