OAC tourneys return this weekend (05/04/06)

The first incarnation of the Olympic Athletic Conference baseball and softball tournaments didn’t survive very long. For at least this year, they have new life.

OAC tournaments in both sports will be played Saturday. Jay County will host the softball action beginning at 9:30 a.m. while Anderson Highland is the home of the baseball starting at 10 a.m.

The first version of the conference tournaments started in the mid-90s after Hamilton Southeastern, Lafayette Harrison, McCutcheon and Brownsburg joined to make the OAC a 12-team conference. But it was short-lived.

Carmel left in 1998 and Anderson Madison Heights closed the same year. A year later Hamilton Southeastern, Lafayette Harrison, Noblesville, Brownsburg and McCutcheon announced their departures.

With the conference slipping down to five teams in the blink of an eye, the tournament was discontinued after the 2000 season. The Patriot baseball team finished eighth that year with losses of 8-0 to Huntington North and 7-0 to Lafayette Harrison. The softball team ended up 10th.

“There was a feeling among some of the coaches in the conference and some of the athletic directors in the conference that it was time to try this again,” said JCHS athletics director Phil Ford Wednesday.

He said there was an interest to add flexibility to the schedule as this year’s format — three regular-season conference games followed by two tournament — is one game fewer than in past years. The OAC previously played a double round-robin schedule — two games against each team for a total of six.

The tournaments are being played on a one-year trial basis. Their future will be discussed at next week’s conference meeting.

If they continue, Ford said he’d like to see host duties for both rotate between all four schools.

Jay County baseball coach Lea Selvey, who was around for the tourney’s first stint, and softball coach Jack Wood said they hope the format helps infuse some extra excitement into the four-team conference.

This weekend’s action should prove to be interesting.

Anderson Highland enters as the top seed in softball, but was hardly dominant. Although it went 3-0 in conference games, it defeated No. 2 seed Jay County just 5-3.

The No. 1 seed Scots will open tournament play against No. 4 seed Muncie Southside at 9:30 a.m. The Patriots will meet third-seeded Connersville a half-hour after the conclusion of the opener. The consolation and championship games will follow.

“I think our defense has really come around,” said Wood, whose team has won six of its last seven and is 10-8 after defeating Bluffton Wednesday night. “We have to play good solid defense and be aggressive at the plate.”

Jay County finished 2-1 in conference play by defeating Connersville 10-7 and Southside 5-3, both in eight innings. It also played non-conference games against Connersville and Southside, coming away with an 8-7 loss and 14-2, five-inning win respectively.

Shae Keller and Trisha Champ have led the Patriot offense as they both hit over .390. Champ leads the team in hits (22) and runs (20), and is second in RBIs (15). Keller has 17 hits and 18 runs, and Chelsea DeBoy has a team-high 16 RBIs.

Keller is also the top pitcher with an 8-6 record.

“This was one of our goals this year to compete for a conference title,” said Wood. “We’re seeded second, so hopefully we’ll come out ready to play.”

While Highland is the favorite in the softball draw, it’s impossible to have any idea what will happen in baseball.

Muncie Southside is the top seed and will open play against No. 4 seed Jay County. Those two teams played each other in double-header action Saturday, with the Patriots winning by scores of 11-0 and 7-4.

But, Southside beat the other two conference teams while Jay County lost to both.

The teams were so close that had the Patriots been able to hold on to a 7-3, seventh-inning lead at Highland — they lost 8-7 on a three-run, walk-off home run — they would have vaulted from the No. 4 seed to the No. 1.

Selvey’s squad also lost to Connersville 4-1 in conference action, but won the second half of the double-header 6-3.

“I think from those games we’ve gotten better,” said Selvey. “The record isn’t showing it, but we’re starting to play better. I think we have the pitching staff to compete.”

Josh Shatto, 1.50 ERA, and Michael Jobe, 1.62, lead the pitching staff, but errors have crushed the team. More than 40 percent of the runs the Patriots (6-8) have given up — 25 out of 58 — have been unearned.

Jobe also leads the offense with a team-high batting average of .390. He is tops on the team in runs (11), hits (16) and RBIs (17).

Tony McCowan has 13 hits for a .382 average, and Josh Ludy has 11 runs and three homers.

“I just think if we go in there and play to our capability we have a chance to win,” said Selvey. “And everybody there is saying the same thing. It’s that wide open.”[[In-content Ad]]