Jay rolls over Raiders

The Patriots momentarily suffered from a midseason slump at the end of April.

Since the start of May, the ship has been completely turned around.

The Jay County High School softball team dominated the Southern Wells Raiders 10-0 in five innings Friday to build a five-game winning streak over the month of May that includes four games ended by the mercy rule.

Jay County (10-4, 2-2 Allen County Athletic Conference) got offensive production from seven of its nine batters, who all either scored a run or drove one in.

Catcher Jaelynn Lykins had the strongest day, delivering four hits for two RBIs. Her fifth-inning double scored Riah Champ to walk the game early.

Hallie Schwieterman matched Lykins with two RBIs as well. Champ and Jozey Shimp led JCHS with two runs scored each.

Mallory Winner and Carley Trinidad combined to only allow Southern Wells (4-14, 0-5 ACAC) one hit in the game. Winner took the win after tossing four innings, in which she struck three out and gave up the only hit to Emma Parks.

Heitkamp leads

VERSAILLES, Ohio — The Fort Recovery track teams picked up three Midwest Athletic Conference titles as the girls claimed the fourth spot in the conference meet Friday and the boys fell to seventh.

The girls tallied 79 points as the Minster Wildcats ran away with 125.5 points and the top spot. The Marion Local boys claimed first place with 156.5 points, while the Indians collected 30 to place seventh out of 10 teams.

Trevor Heitkamp earned both of the boys’ MAC titles. He blew out the field in the 3,200-meter run with a time of 9 minutes, 41.38 seconds. The 1,600 run ended up closer, with the FRHS senior (4:24.33) beating out Minster’s Jack Grieshop by 2.98 seconds.

The girls’ only victory came from the 4x100 relay team. Anna Roessner, Paige Guggenbiller, Kiana Matsuda and Mara Pearson combined for a championship time of 49.66 seconds, which broke a meet record held by Versailles since 2010.

Nichols delivers

Parker Nichols hit the go-ahead single in the fifth inning of the Jay County baseball team’s 3-1 win over the Southern Wells Raiders on Friday.

The Patriots (11-9, 4-1 ACAC) trailed by a run going into the bottom of the fifth. A pair of errors gave JCHS a threat on the base paths before Cody Rowles pushed the first run across on a bunt that resulted in an error on third baseman Peyton Bertsch.

Nichols came to the plate with two outs and the bases loaded. He delivered an infield single that scored one run, and an error by shortstop Jakob Gearheart.

The only run for Southern Wells (3-14, 0-5 ACAC) came in the fourth inning on a single by Robby Freimuth.

Kade Sommers picked up the win with 10 strikeouts over six innings. Sam Myers earned the save after a scoreless seventh inning.

Tribe falls

DELPHOS, Ohio — Austin Moenter walked off the Fort Recovery baseball team 4-3 in the eighth inning on Friday, as the St. John’s Blue Jays secured the fifth spot in the Midwest Athletic Conference standings.

FRHS pitcher Alex Gaerke walked the first batter of the eight before recording a pair of strikeouts. The Indians (8-11, 4-6 MAC) elected to avoid Cam Elwer with an intentional walk. Moenter took one strike before his single to center field ended the game.

The Blue Jays (11-12, 5-4 MAC) put up three runs in the fifth inning to tie the game.

Fort Recovery scored two runs in the second inning on a Gavin Faller sacrifice fly and a Mason Diller single. Its final run came in the top of the fifth on a base hit by Troy Homan.

The Indians finish tied with Marion Local for sixth in the MAC.