Momentum win

The Patriots from Portland have had some missteps in Allen County Athletic Conference play this year, falling to a pair of ranked teams.

The Patriots representing Monroeville had better luck, starting the season 3-0 in the ACAC with a win over Class 2A No. 5 South Adams.

After giving up a run in the first inning, Portland's team looked like it might suffer a similar fate to the northern Patriots, but an offensive explosion turned that around really quickly.

The Jay County High School softball team didn’t let the early run bother them as they beat the Heritage Patriots 11-1 in five innings on Thursday.

“At this point in the season, it’s a great win and a great momentum builder,” said JCHS coach Doug Arbuckle. “They’re a quality team with a quality pitcher and to come out and beat her up like we did is just a great feeling for us moving ahead.”

Jay County (16-2, 4-2 ACAC) slipped up early, allowing Heritage (13-7, 3-1 ACAC) to get on the board first. Danica Fuller led the game off with a single to center field and advanced to second base on a groundout by Libby Cain. Abriyah James pushed her own single up the middle to drive Fuller in for the first run of the game.

Avi Washington produced one more single to left field that Dakota Chowning cut off to hold the runners up before Mallory Winner ended the inning with back-to-back strikeouts.

After the early inning mishap, Winner took over the game, not allowing Heritage to score again.

“Tonight’s senior night and this is one of my last games,” Winner said. “I’m not going to step back on this field after this season, so I told myself, ‘Just have fun with it and do your best. No matter the outcome, you’re a good player.’”

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Jay County softball vs. Heritage (5/15/2025)

She sat down the HHS hitters in order in the second inning. She gave up three hits and two walks over the next two innings, but got some key defensive stops from seniors who haven’t been regular staples of the JCHS lineup throughout the year.

Winner recorded the first out of the third inning by firing a ground ball to shortstop Brenna Ruble at second base to get the lead runner. Two batters later, she got Washington to hit a sharp ground ball to senior third baseman Zoe Romine, who stepped on the bag at third base before sending the ball to Jozey Shimp at first for an inning-ending double play.

In the fourth, Winner gave up consecutive hits to Lucy Buuck and Sydney Martin before striking a pair out. The senior pitcher walked Hadlee Shipp on four pitches to load the bases. Fuller sent the next pitch out to Chowning, a senior left fielder, who had to range over about 15 feet to make the inning-ending catch.

“Really proud of the seniors and their effort tonight,” Arbuckle said. “Dakota made two really nice plays in left field … Zoe Romine played phenomenal at third base tonight with a double play and two hits.”

Winner gave up a walk in the final inning, but otherwise breezed through the inning to finish off Heritage. She ended the game with six strikeouts, while allowing one run on six hits and three walks.

The Jay County offense was firing on all cylinders as well, as it only needed four batters to take the lead. Brenna Ruble opened the game with a fly out to right field before Morgan Missicano hit Fuller with a comebacker for a single. Jaelynn Lykins followed with a single and Chloe Brown came in as a courtesy runner. Shimp then delivered a single to left field to plate the pair.

Two pitches later, Winner hit a shallow fly ball to right field that dropped in for a single. Carley Trinidad came to the plate and watched one pitch before sending a ball over the fence in center field.

“We just waited for our pitch to hit and executed it really well,” said Trinidad, who hit her first varsity home run. “I was looking for an inside pitch because that’s my best pitch to hit. It felt great because I’ve been waiting for that for a long time and have gotten so close, but it finally happened.”

While that was it for Jay County’s offense in the first inning, they came back for four more runs in the second. Romine opened the frame with a hard-hit ball to third base for a single. A sacrifice bunt by Ruble and a Missicano walk put two runners on with one out. Lykins followed in Trinidad’s steps with a three-run home run to left center field. Two pitches later, Shimp blasted her own home run off the scoreboard.

JCHS scored one more run in the third and fourth innings on an error and a single by Ava Bice.