Hart, Boles power Patriots

Jay County just needed a game to get its bats warmed up.
Then Larissa Boles silenced the Knights’ offense.
After dropping the first game of a doubleheader 7-3 to Bishop Luers on Saturday, the Patriot softball team had four extra-base hits, including a pair of home runs, in a 9-0 victory to earn a split with the Knights.
“I know there’s a little bit of confidence factor when Larissa is on the mound,” said JCHS coach Doug Arbuckle. Boles retired the first 17 batters she faced and didn’t allow a hit until the sixth inning. “The big difference was we finally put the bat on the ball and got some hits. We put some stuff together and we hadn’t been able to do that at all up to that point.
“Plus, we got on the board early and we could relax a little bit.”
Jay County (2-4) broke the scoreless tie in the second inning of game two on a solo home run by Gabby Hart. The junior launched the first pitch of her at bat against Lexi Sweeney to deep right-center field, bouncing it off the top of the fence and over. It was the second home run of the day for Hart, who also hit a three-run bomb in game one for the Patriots’ only runs.
Two innings later, freshman Kady Finnerty followed back-to-back singles by Catherine Dunn and Hart with a two-run double, and Kaili Baughman added an RBI double two pitches later to push Jay County’s lead to 4-0.
Dunn, who took the loss pitching in the first game, hit a solo shot in the fifth inning and added a two-run single in the sixth as the Patriots took advantage of a pair of Bishop Luers errors to plate four more runs.
“You’ve got to take advantage of that,” said Arbuckle, whose team hosts defending sectional champion Huntington North at 5 p.m. tonight. The Vikings defeated the Patriots 1-0 in the sectional semifinal a year ago. “When teams give you extra outs in an inning, you’ve got to take advantage. We were aggressive and ran the bases well to add some runs on the scoreboard.”
And after Bishop Luers (2-1) touched up Dunn for eight hits in game one, Boles made sure the Knights wouldn’t match that number in the second game.
The senior right-hander struck out 11, including eight of the first 12 hitters she faced and all three in the second inning, and didn’t allow a walk.
She had 10 strikeouts through 5 2/3 innings, and during that span the ball never reached the outfield. The other seven outs were on infield ground balls.
“We just didn’t come out and hit that game,” said Bishop Luers coach Jeff Doll. “(Boles) threw a little harder than that first pitcher and we weren’t ready. We can’t make excuses, but we just didn’t come out and hit.”
Carolina Garcia, who pitched the Knights to the victory in the first game, came in to pinch hit against Boles with two outs in the sixth. She fell behind 1-2, but blooped the next pitch in front of JCHS right fielder Kristin Simons to break up Boles’ attempt at perfection. Garcia was thrown out trying to take second on the play.
With two outs in the seventh, Haleigh Devido notched the second hit for Bishop Luers when she popped a 3-2 pitch just out of reach of Finnerty at short. Devido was left stranded at first, and the Knights never had a runner in scoring position.
“She pitched a good game,” Arbuckle said, noting that this is the type of performance Boles needs to get her confidence back on the mound. After going 18-2 as a junior, Boles struggled in the season-opening loss to Wapahani. She then turned around and struck out nine in a  4-1 win against Blackford on April 6.  “She’s coming around. Part of what she needs too, for whatever reason, she’s not comfortable at the plate.
“I think when she gets everything going. That’s when she gets her confidence up and she really has fun playing the game.”
Jay County got off to a good start in the first game thanks to Hart’s three-run shot in the third inning.
Bishop Luers answered with  Garcia’s two-run homer in the fourth, and capitalized on a fielding error in the sixth to tack on two more runs to grab a 4-3 lead.
Another defensive miscue by Jay County led to an RBI single by Lexi Sheridan in the seventh, and two batters later Emily Hull hit a two-run single to right center field to push the Knights’ lead to the eventual final score.
“That’s the kind of thing we can’t have,” said Arbuckle, whose team also has games at Fort Recovery on Tuesday and home Thursday against Delta. “We have to clean that up. When we play good ball teams, we can’t give them the extra outs because teams are going to take advantage of that.”