Patriots' aggressiveness backfires

The Patriots wanted to be more aggressive at the plate.
They weren’t afraid to swing, even early in the count, but they just had a difficult time making contact.
Jay County High School’s softball team managed only two hits and struck out a 13 times Friday in a 7-2 loss to the Woodlan Warriors.
“Very frustrating,” said JCHS coach Amy Hawbaker, whose team has lost seven straight games to start the season. “I told them before the game we need to work on pitch selection.
“We talked after the St. Henry game (a 14-13 loss on Tuesday) about going up and ready to attack the ball. When I told them (the home plate umpire Friday) said it was going to be a bigger strike zone, I don’t know if that psyched them out … I don’t know.”
Jay County (0-7, 0-1 Allen County Athletic Conference) was playing from behind for the whole game as the Warriors (2-6, 1-0 ACAC) scored two runs in the opening frame.
JCHS freshman Kensey Litton led off the home half of the first inning with a bunt to Woodlan pitcher Emma Baughman, whose throw got by Kenzie Salzbrenner at first base for a two-base error. The Patriot speedster then swiped third, and after Baughman notched the first of her 13 punchouts, Jay County sophomore Kady Finnerty hit a sacrifice fly to left field to score Litton.
Baughman notched strikeout No. 2 to end the inning, and went on to retire the next nine batters. She had two strikeouts in each of the first five innings, one in the sixth and two in the seventh.
“I think she did a great job,” Woodlan coach Angie Baughman said. “She is not real fast. She is not an overpowering pitcher, but she tends to get her job done if she can hit her spots.”
On the rare occasion the sophomore did miss her location, the Patriot hitters often chased pitches outside the zone, whether chest high, ankle low or away from the plate.
Baughman was also able to vary her speeds, fooling Jay County’s batters into getting out on their front foot for soft ground balls.
“(Baughman) did a good job of moving the ball around and mixing up speeds,” Hawbaker said.
The Warriors added to their 2-1 lead after the first inning with a three-run second, highlighted by an RBI single from Kelsey Jones and a two-run single from Salzbrenner.
Jones was 3-for-4 with two RBIs and a pair of stolen bases as Woodlan touched up Jay County pitcher Rachel Antrim to the tune of 10 hits. Antrim went the distance, giving up seven runs — five earned — while striking out two and walking three.
“We have some really big hitters that if they can come through every game they are going to give us some RBIs and we’re going to win some games,” Baughman said. “Paige Lichty (1-for-3 with three runs) has been pretty consistent for us. And Kelsey (Jones) has some power when she gets a hold of it.
“It has been pretty spotty with our offense so far. We’ll have one girl hitting really well one game and the next it is another girl.”
Woodlan scored a run in the fourth and fifth innings to push the lead to 7-1, and Jay County answered with its final run of the game in the home half of the fifth.
Emily Corn legged out an infield single to begin the frame, then moved to second on a stolen base. Back-to-back wild pitches brought her home, and the Patriots were finally able to put pressure on the Woodlan defense.
Katie Carpenter and McKayla Norris both walked to put two runners on with no outs, but Baughman got two strikeouts and a grounder to get out of the jam.
Corn’s single broke up Baughman’s no-hit bid, and Jay County senior Gabby Hart hit a two-out double in the sixth for the only other Patriot hit.
Angie Baughman stressed the importance for her Woodlan team to get on the scoreboard early in a road game, especially in conference play.
“We tend to do better when we are away,” she said. “When we can hit first and they can get a little more confidence, then they do better.”
Hawbaker said the Patriots, who committed three errors, including two on the same play during the first inning, have to clean up the defensive miscues.
“A lot of our runs (given up) have came from young mistakes,” she said. “Mistakes that, hopefully (when they are) juniors and seniors, we won’t be seeing.
“We had a lot of miscommunication and not covering where we needed to — things that we need to clean up going forward.”