Kunkler holds the No. 9 seed

Six Patriots will compete at the regional level.

All are seeded outside of the top eight.

Senior Isaac Kunkler is the highest seed for the Jay County High School boys track team at No. 9 as it prepares to compete in Thursday’s regional meet at Lawrence Central.

The top three finishers in each event advance to the state finals.

Kunkler was the sectional runner-up in the 300-meter hurdles in 41.51 seconds. His time was nearly a second slower than No. 3 seed Emory McClellan of Southport.

He is also seeded 12th in the 110 hurdles.

Tony Wood, Joseph Boggs, Brayden Collins and Dylan Marentes hold the No. 13 seed for the 4x800 relay. Wood is also seeded 16th in the 400 dash, and Adam Alig is among 14 athletes tied for the 16th seed in the high jump at 5 feet, 8 inches.



JC 8th rolls

SELMA — Offense pushed the Jay County eighth grade baseball team past Selma Middle School 9-1 Monday.

The Patriots scored a run each in the first and second innings, while Selma had one in the second to make it a 2-1 game going into the fifth. Despite scoring nine runs, the Patriots only had three hits. They came from Leighton Brown, Wyatt Foster and Hunter Collins.

Collins was the winning pitcher for the Patriots. He threw three innings when he allowed three hits and one run.



Patriot 7th tie

SELMA — The Jay County seventh grade baseball team tied with Selma Middle School 6-6 Monday.

Selma struck first with three runs in the first two innings, but the Patriots put up five in the top of the third for a 5-3 lead.

Three more runs in the fourth gave Selma a one-run advantage before Jay County tied it up in the top of the fifth when Braden Wells was hit by a pitch.

Caleb Sibray led the Patriots with two hits while Alex Miller, Nick Snow, Tyler Wasson and Sibray all drove in runs.



Thwaits gets W

Fort Recovery High School graduate Nick Thwaits earned a victory for the Fort Wayne TinCaps on Sunday despite giving up a couple of runs in their 11-10 victory over the Dayton Dragons.

Thwaits allowed two runs on two hits while striking out one in the seventh inning as the TinCaps fell behind 10-7. But Fort Wayne scored four times in the top of the eighth inning to put Thwaits in position for the win as the pitcher of record.

Chris Lincoln and Raul Brito then pitched a scoreless inning apiece to preserve the victory.

It’s been a tough first two months of the season for Thwaits, who has given up at least a run in all but two of his nine relief appearances. He is 2-2 with a 6.62 ERA and 16 strikeouts in 17 2/3 innings for the TinCaps, the High A affiliate of the San Diego Padres.



Optimist blasts

Extra-base hits powered Optimist past Homestead Bedding in Portland Junior League Rookie softball 18-8 Friday.

Ava VanSkyock had two of the team’s four extra-base hits, hitting a home run and a double as well as two singles in five at bats.

Lizzy Miller and Ellie Darby had the other extra-base hits with a triple and double respectively. Miller added three singles while Darby had five.

Kenley Reynolds and Hazel Yountz went 3-for-4.

Lillian Wright was Homestead Bedding’s top hitter going 4-for-4 from the plate.



For the cycle

Wings and Rings took down REMC of Portland Junior League Rookie softball 15-2 on Monday.

Three players for Wings and Rings went 4-for-4, those being Carsyn Guggenbiller, Emme Theurer and Kierstyn White.

Guggenbiller hit for the cycle with a home run, triple, double and single while scoring four runs.

Theurer scored four runs while hitting two triples. White hit a double and scored three runs.

Lucy Locke and Kendall Evans both scored a run in the game.