Rally time (04/09/08)

For three innings, the Patriots looked somewhat lost. But they found their game in time.

Jay County High School's softball fought back from a 5-1 deficit, forced extra innings and won 6-5 over the Southern Wells Raiders when Lauren Edmundson scored on a Trisha Champ ground ball in the eighth.

But even with all the offense the Patriots needed to fight back, it was a defensive play that stood out.

"That was a momentum changer right there," said Southern Wells coach Gary Short of the play that halted the potential lead run. "The momentum went their way. I'll tell you, that's one heck of a throw. Nine out of 10 times that girl is safe, there's no doubt in my mind. We pulled the right play on that one, and they just came up big, the catcher and outfielder."

The play came in the top of the seventh inning after the Patriots (3-1) had tied the game with two runs in the bottom of the sixth.

Stella Grimm smacked a one-out double, and was then replaced by pinch runner Kristy Penrod.

An error allowed Mychal Chandler to reach base, leaving runners on first and second for Kelsey Bonewit.

The third baseman, who was already 2-for-2 with a walk, slapped a single to left field, and Penrod was waved around third base. She seemed likely to put the Raiders (0-4) back on top, by left fielder Tiffany Davis rifled a throw to the plate and Trisha Champ put the tag on to keep the game tied.

Brittney Watson then got a ground ball to end the threat.

"It was a huge, huge play by Tiffany Davis in left field and Trish holding on," said JCHS coach Jack Wood. "What a great throw."

After the Patriots and Raiders traded a scoreless bottom of the seventh and top of the eighth, senior Lauren Edmundson ripped a double to left-center field to start the bottom of the eighth for Jay County. She advanced to third base on a wild pitch, and scored on Champ's ground ball to second base.

Edmundson and Champ also keyed the game-tying rally in the sixth inning, with Edmundson again leading off the frame with a double. She moved to third on a Jessica Piercey sacrifice, and Champ followed with a double of her own.

Champ moved to third base on a ground out by Tiffany Davis and scored the tying run on a two-out wild pitch.

Lauren Edmundson had two of the Patriots' five doubles, with Champ, Amber Edmundson and Kayla Phillips each adding one.

"Lauren has been hitting the ball really well," said Wood. "Even her outs, at Connersville, were hard outs. It's just a matter of finding holes, and I think that's what you saw tonight."

Champ finished with two hits, two RBIs and a run, and Lindsey Wellman and Brittney Watson also had two hits apeice. Amber Edmundson drove in a run with her double in the second inning and scored in the fifth, and Phillips had an RBI double as well.

Watson, who took over pitching duties in the second inning because Amber Edmundson was hurt, gave the Patriots a chance to rally. Although she gave up 10 hits, she only allowed one runner to reach scoring position over the course of the final five innings.

All four runs against her were unearned as she picked up her first career win.

"Brittney has done a nice job two games in a row now," said Wood. "She's kept us in there. She's moving the ball, hitting locations. ... She did a nice job tonight."

Southern Wells scored once in the first inning, but did most of its damage in a mistake-filled fourth. Jay County made two key errors, allowing the Raiders to score their four runs despite hitting the ball out of the infield just once - an RBI single to left by Kayla Banter.

Cristin Carter had two hits and two runs for Southern Wells, and Stella Grimm added two hits, including a double, and a run. Mychal Chandler had a hit, a run and an RBI.

"It's been a problem for us, getting runners on and moving them around," said Short of his team's offensive drought after the third inning. "We do work hard on captitalizing on their mistakes. If you get them down, you get the girls motivated on your team. ... The offense has been a struggle for us this year so far, but we're getting there."

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