Alberson blast powers Stars

BERNE — Morgan Alberson picked the perfect time for her second home run of the season.
Alberson, a South Adams High School junior, hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the seventh inning Saturday, powering the Starfire softball team to a 6-4 victory to secure a sweep of the visiting Eastbrook Panthers.
South Adams (15-5) won the first game 10-4.
Eastbrook took a 2-0 lead after the first inning and tacked on two more during the fifth for a 4-0 lead. South Adams chipped away at the deficit with a run in each of the fifth and sixth innings. The Starfires tied the game in the bottom of the seventh on a single by Isabella Ramirez, and Alberson’s blast gave SAHS the win.
South Adams got out to a 4-0 lead in the first inning of game one and never looked back, adding a run in the third, three in the fourth and two in the fifth.
Ramirez led the Starfires with five hits, including a double, and also added two RBIs. Kayla LeFever totaled four singles, and Alberson had a team-high three RBIs.

SA drops two
BERNE — The South Adams baseball team dropped two games to the Indianapolis Cardinal Ritter Raiders on Saturday.
A strong start by Cardinal Ritter gave it a 14-2 victory in the opener, and it scored a run in every inning in game two for a 14-3 win.
South Adams (12-10) trailed 6-0 after the first inning and 8-0 after four, before scratching across two runs in the bottom of the sixth. The Raiders tacked on six more in the sixth inning and kept the Starfires off the scoreboard in the home half of the frame for the win.
The Starfires had a 2-1 advantage after the first inning of game two, but two runs in each of the second and third innings by Cardinal Ritter gave the Raiders a 5-2 lead it didn’t give up.
Isaiah Baumgartner had a double and a single to lead the Starfires in game one. Justin Nussbaum took the loss on the mound.
In the second game, Braxton Haight had two singles and drove in two runs, and Joe Stuber added a double. Jayden Dull shouldered the loss.

Patriot JV splits
PENDLETON — Jay County’s junior varsity softball team split a doubleheader with the Pendleton Heights Arabians on Saturday.
The Patriots lost the opener 12-1, then bounced back with an 8-7 victory in the second game.
Hannah Phillips had a triple and two singles during the second game, and she also pitched the Patriots to the win. Maggie Pryor had a single, a triple and two runs. Randi Ferguson chipped in with three hits, and Katie Beougher had a double and a single. Ferguson and Beougher both had two RBIs.
Kaylee Inman took the loss in game one, and the Patriots had four hits.

Jay boys ninth
HUNTINGTON — Jay County’s boys track team finished ninth Saturday in the freshman/sophomore meet at Huntington North.
The host Vikings scored 177.5 points for the team title, with Mt. Vernon (Fortville) the runner up with 117. Muncie Central was third with 87 points, and Jay County totaled 13 points.
Isaac Robbins was fourth in the 300-meter hurdles with his time of 48.29 seconds. Noah Harris was eighth in the 110 hurdles in 18.8 seconds.
The 4x800 relay team of Tayler Smeltzer, Skyler Myers, Jason Minnich and Mathew Paquette was sixth in 10 minutes. 31.34 seconds. Nathanael Day, Korbin Auker, Gavin Randal and Paquette were seventh in the 4x100 relay (54.06) and Robbins, Randall, Auker and Harris teamed to finish seventh in the 4x400 relay (4:19.38).

Trinity wins 9-5
Trinity United Methodist Church defeated Display Craft 9-5 on Friday in Rookie softball action of Portland Junior League.
Presleigh Moore and Kayleigh Stevenson both had three singles to lead Trinity, which also got a pair of singles from Erin Aker.
Jasmin Esparza paced Display Craft with three singles, and Calie Yates chipped in with two base hits.