Jay second at opening relays

BERNE — Jay County won 20 relays to open its season.

It wasn’t enough, as Wells Community edged them out by just five victories.

The Jay County Summer Swim Team earned 1,730 points to claim second place at the Wabash Valley Conference Relays on Saturday at Berne Public Pool.

Wells Community’s 25 wins earned them 1,800 points, white South Adams won the final five relays, totaling 732 points for third-place. Trailing were North Adams Central(540) and Blackford/Marion (436).

Jay County’s 11-12-year-old girls dominated the field, taking first and second place in every event.

Kenna Arnold, Gabby Gibson, Maria Laux and Kali Wendel won the medley and backstroke relays for the age group, with Lila Wendel replacing Gibson in the butterfly and breaststroke relays. Sophia Upp joined Arnold and the Wendels in the freestyle relay.

The 8-and-younger girls and the 9-10-year-old girls also swept all of their relays. The former group was composed of Maddie Theurer, Emme Theurer, Jaley Knapschafer and Cora Arnold. Addisyn Champ, Anna Fisher, Carsyn Guggenbiller, Sophie Warvel and Ellie Wiggins competed for the relays at the 9-10-year-old girls level.

The other five victories came from the 11-12-year-old boys and the 15-and-older girls.



Splitting series

The Portland Rockets split a pair of games with the Michiana Brewers on Saturday, losing the first 7-4 before coming out on top 13-12 in eight innings in the second.

The Rockets struck first in game one on Joel Kennedy’s first-inning double, but a four-run third inning spelled Portland’s demise. Back-to-back extra-base hits from Nate and Donnie Nekas fueled the inning.

Garrison Brege suffered the loss, giving up five runs in six innings.

It took an extra inning for the Rockets to win game two.

A five-run second inning and a four-run sixth helped the Rockets tie the Brewers at 10 going into the seventh. Neither team scored in the seventh to send the game to extras.

The Brewers scored two runs off of an error by Noah Perkins at third base and ball that got past catcher Kess McBride. Singles from Dakota Durick and Jacob Barr tied the game for the Rockets before Kennedy delivered a walk-off single to lift the Rockets to victory.

Barr had five RBIs to lead Portland in the game. Jared Holley earned the win.



Penrod leads

PENNVILLE — Twenty-nine players scored goals in the Pennville Soccer League on Saturday.

Kenna Penrod of the Ryzone’s Wasps led all players with eight goals. Mabel Leonhard added two goals to help the Wasps past the Penrod Monument Yellow Jackets 10-1, whose sole goal came from Anniston Hammond.

The leading scorer of the space division was Raul Martinez of Vinson Rental Properties Galaxy. Martinez found the net six times in the Galaxy’s 11-1 over Pennville Pantry Meteors and once as the Galaxy fell 2-1 to Dave’s Heating and Cooling Rockets.

Bradley Catterson scored both goals for the Rockets.

Both of the wildcat division’s top-two scorers come from the Pennville General Store Lions. Charlee Peters scored four times as Bryce Rickard added three goals in the 9-0 victory over POET Bioprocessing Tigers. The final two goals were scored by Tyler Davis and Karsen Kuhn.

The next leading scorers were Benjamin Barrios (7) and Raelyn McClain (5) for Progressive Del Toro Hornets.



Wings win

Wings and Rings of Portland Junior League Rookie softball took down Optimist 23-14 on Friday.

Lucy Locke, Maddie Theurer and Hadleigh Walker were all 4-for-4 for Wings and Rings. Locke scored three runs while Theurer and Walker both scored once. Locke hit a triple to go with her singles and Theurer added a double to her line.

They also got three runs from Brooklyn Evans.

Optimist got great production from Ava VanSkyock who hit a grandslam, a triple and a single while scoring two runs.

They also had three batters hit 4-for-4, them being Maria Heitkamp (4 runs), Kynlee Homan (2) and Ellie Darby (2).



Cooks wins

Cook’s Nursery defeated Matt’s Garage of Portland Junior League Rookie baseball 18-9 on Friday.

Reid Wendel and Trey Hirschy led Cook’s Nursery with four RBIs each. Wendel hit a triple, two doubles and a single while Hirschy smacked one of each.

Behind them was Kayden Hoffman who drove in three runs also slashing a triple, two doubles and a single.

Owen Clemons led Matt’s Garage with two triples and a single to push three runs across home plate.

He was joined by Duke Armstrong, earning three hits and scoring three runs.



Strong start

FORT RECOVERY — A four-run first inning powered the Fort Recovery ACME baseball team to a 9-3 win over the Marion Local Flyers on Thursday.

Down by a run in the bottom of the first inning, the Indians didn’t waste much time to get on the board. A pair of walks and a double steal setup Gavin Faller who knocked the runners in with a line drive to left field. Faller would drive two more runs home in the fifth inning as well.

Faller later came around on a double by Alex Gaerke. Rex Leverette’s single later in the inning drove in the fourth and final run.

Alex Dues earned the win for the Indians, giving up one run on six hits through three innings pitched.

Leverette would relieve Dues, pitching the final four, giving up a pair of runs on five hits.



Eels dominate

FORT RECOVERY — The Fort Recovery Eels summer swim team earned 691 points in Thursday’s victory over the Darke County Stingrays (392) and the South Adams Summer Swim Club (323).

The Eels had four athletes who won three events. Joelle Kaup earned victories in the 15-and-over 100-meter freestyle (1 minute, 11.08 seconds), the 50 backstroke (37.01) and the 50 freestyle (30.94).

Makenna Huelskamp’s time of 1:22.77 in the girls 13-to-14-years-old 100 individual medley earned her the win. She also placed first in the 50 breaststroke (42.54) and the 50 freestyle (32.59).

Rozlyn Diller notched wins in the girls 9-to-10-year-old 25 butterfly (22.41), 100 individual medley (1:51.27) and the 25 breaststroke (24.69).

A time of 1:17.42 earned Ivan Bockman the win in the 8-and-younger 50 freestyle. He also had wins in the 25 breaststroke (39.96) and the 100 freestyle (33.08).



Tie game

The game between Local 1620 and Loy’s Realty of Portland Junior League Sandy Kofax baseball ended in a 13-13 tie on Thursday.

Freddy Lingo hit a solo-home run and a single for Local 1620. Alex Miller added a team-high five RBIs on a double and a single. Dominic Bright also added two doubles.

Brayden O’Brien was the top hitter for Loy’s Realty with two singles that drove in three runs.

Both Ethan Powers and Caleb Sibrey hit three singles and drove in two runs.



Willie Mays

There were two games played in Portland Junior League Willie Mays baseball on Thursday night. Kiwanis skated by Display Craft 13-12 while PG14 put down Optimist 18-5.

Benson Armstrong led all hitters, blasting an inside-the-park home run, a triple and two doubles for Kiwanis. Karson Schilling and Easton Steed both added four hits for Kiwanis as well.

Benton Langenkamp was perfect for Display Craft as he hit a triple, double and a single without making an out at the plate.

PG14’s top hitters were Beckham Hough and Eli Homan. Hough smashed three doubles and a single in the win while Homan hit a triple, double and single.

Bryce VanSkyock was the only player with an extra-base hit for Optimist with a double.



All Stars win

The Portland All Stars 8-and-younger softball team won their game against Selma 8-3 on Thursday.

A three-run first inning got the All Stars started off on the right foot before adding two more in the third.

They would surrender three runs in the fourth to Selma, but earned them right back in the next inning.

Carsyn Guggenbiller was a perfect 3-for-3 from the plate and scored a team-high three runs.

Savannah Hudson and Kierstyn White both scored twice and earned two hits. White hit a triple and a single while Hudson had a double and a single.