Patriots halt Wes-Del (05/15/07)

The Wes-Del Warriors were motoring right along. They arrived Monday to find the Patriots holding up a giant stop sign.

Jay County's softball team halted the Warriors' seven-game winning streak, handing Wes-Del a 6-2 defeat.

"It was a pretty good ball game," said JCHS coach Jack Wood, whose team matched its 2006 win total at 13. "We came off the Bellmont game on a huge emotional high ... I was a little worried about how we'd come out and play today, but I think we responded well."

After going down one-two-three in the first inning Brittany Mann delivered all the runs the Patriots (13-7) would need in the second.

Morgan Locke knocked a one-out single to center field, but Wes-Del pitcher Monica Crowe should have been out of the inning as she followed with strikeouts of Amber Edmundson and Lindsey Wellman. However, the third strike to Wellman got past catcher Darcy Crabtree and to the backstop, allowing the Jay County freshman to reach first base safely.

Locke and Wellman both moved up a base on a wild pitch, and Ashley Bunch loaded them up with a walk.

Mann made the Warriors (13-8) pay, crushing a bases-clearing double over the head of center fielder Heidi Stellwag.

Wes-Del got within one when it scored twice in the top of the third inning, but Mann struck again in the fourth. With Edmundson still at first after a leadoff walk, Mann narrowly missed a home run as she bashed a two-out double half-way up the fence in left field.

"Brittany Mann stepped up with a couple of big hits," said Wood of the sophomore, who waived at a pitch high out of the strike zone before each of her doubles. "She's good for that at least one swing per at bat, and then I think she realizes it and cuts down a little bit. She's been hitting the ball hard lately."

Mann finished 2-for-4 with four of the Patriots' six RBIs.

Jay County added two more runs in the fifth inning as another free pass came back to bite Crowe. Trisha Champ drew a one-out walk, then scored on Pazia Speed's triple to right-center field.

Locke brought Speed home with a perfect bunt single for the final margin.

Half of the Patriot runs were unearned thanks to the second-inning error.

"She walked five batters and (three) of them scored," added Wes-Del coach Travis Keesling. "We had that passed ball that should have been the third strike. Really that's the three runs they got (in that inning). It's just one of those games."

Wes-Del had some hard-hit balls in the game, but almost nothing got past Jay County's outfield trio of Speed, Kaelee Keller and Locke.

Speed had four catches in left field, and Keller made an outstanding running grab on a shot off the bat of Sam Sipe to end the fifth inning.

"Our outfield I've said all year along is solid," said Wood. "We're quick out there. We're smart out there."

Shae Keller (10-6) earned the win as just one of the two runs against her was earned. She struck out four while giving up five hits and two walks.

Following Mann for the Patriot offense was Locke at 2-for-3 with a run and an RBI. Speed finished 1-for-2 with a walk, a triple, a run and an RBI.

Crowe suffered the defeat, allowing six runs - three earned - on five hits and five walks. She struck out eight batters.

Keesling said it might not be such a bad thing that his team took a defeat with the sectional tournament just a week away.

"We've been real hot," he said. "We'd won seven in a row, and going into the tournament you don't want to get a big head. If you get a big head and you overlook somebody you go home."

Jamie Moistner drove in both Wes-Del runs with a double in the third inning. Stellwag and Janessa Long each had a hit and a run.[[In-content Ad]]