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Tri-County North junior pitcher Kasidi Daugherty has been solid on the hill this year. The Panthers are 5-0 in the league this year. 

Game Photos: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.452744727105053&type=3

LEWISBURG – Tri-County North defeated Twin Valley South 7-4 Friday night to improve to 5-0 in the WOAC sitting at the top of the league one game above Tri-Village at 4-0 and a half game above Arcanum who is 5-1.

North’s start in the league may be a bit of a surprise to many but coach Shelly Lykins couldn’t be more pleased with the play of her team.

“We’ve challenged our team and program by setting up a harder out of conference schedule playing stronger teams,” Coach Lykins stated. 

That schedule is reflected in the overall record for Tri-County North who is currently 5-8 overall.  Their schedule includes double-headers against Versailles and Tecumseh and games against Talawanda, Brookville and Middletown Madison.

North has just two seniors on the team and coach Lykins says they are still in the learning stages especially with no senior pitchers on the squad.

Junior Kasidi Daugherty earned the win on the mound going 6-2/3 innings giving up one hit and one unearned run.  Sophomore Jordan Pinion threw in relief for Tri-County North.

“We are a very young team with only two seniors and none of our pitchers are seniors.

Our pitcher that started tonight is a junior and has been rock solid here lately.  We are also working on getting our sophomore some valuable time on the bump as well,” Lykins stated.

North was steady on the offensive end scoring runs in 5 of the 7 innings.

Daugherty not only threw the ball well she also led the team at the plate going 3-for-3, Jordan Pinion went 2-for-4 and scored two runs, Sadie Royer went 2-for-4 scoring a run and Gracie Hemp was 2-for-5 with a rbi, and a run scored. 

Kora Lykins had two singles both resulted in rbi's for the North squad.

Twin Valley South trailed 3-0 after two innings scored in the bottom of the 2^nd inning by manufacturing a run with freshman Rylie Caldwell stealing 2^nd base then advancing to 3^rd on a passed ball.  Then a seeing eye single from senior Makenzie Wise scored Caldwell to make it 3-1.

Tri-County North Sophomore Chloe Jackson doubled in a run in the 3^rd inning to put North up on South 4-1.

In the 4^th inning Bella Cherry hit a triple that brought home Kasidi Daugherty and then Kora Lykins who went 2-4 with 2 rbi’s including a single in the 1^st inning scoring Gracie Hemp.  She would also single in Bella Cherry at the top of the 4^th to go up 6-1.

TV South Maci Arndt's steals home going over TCN catcher Kora Lykins.

Twin Valley South put together a little rally at the bottom of the 5^th inning when freshman Peyton Howard hit a grounder to short scoring Makenzie Wise.  Then freshman Kelsie Maggard dropped a perfect bunt for a single to score senior Abby Crouse.  Junior Macie Arndts then stole home as the South Panthers put all kinds of pressure on TCN. 

Kasidi Daugherty returned to the mound to limit any more damage and was able to get out of the inning, but South closed the gap trailing 6-4 going into the 6^th inning.

TV South Kelsey Maggard puts down a perfect bunt to score drive in a run.

Neither team scored in the 6^th, but Tri-County North pushed across an insurance run at the top of the 7^th inning on Hannah Webster’s sacrifice fly to score Jordan Pinion to go up 7-4.

Daugherty retired TVS 1-2-3 at the bottom of the 7^th shutting the door on any South comeback heroics.

Twin Valley South falls to 5-7 overall and 1-5 in the WOAC, but coach Scott Arndts feels like his team is so close to winning and just a few breaks here or there they could be looking at a few more wins.

“We might be toward the bottom of the league, but we just lost by three runs to one of the top teams in the league who has yet to lose in the conference.  I mean, that's how I look at where we are … just one or two innings away, or a call going our way, or a hit or two here are there.  We are in the games, we're just not getting the consistency we need,” Coach Arndts explained after the game.

North's Sadie Royer beats the throw to South's Kelsie Maggard.

Coach Lykins was pleased with her team for being able to remain poised after Twin Valley South made a run at them late in the game.

“We wanted to get our sophomore pitcher going, so we put her out there and she's a great pitcher, but a couple things went wrong that we couldn't control but as a team we were able to work through it to get the win,” Lykins explained.

“We want to stay at the top as we head into next week with some big games coming up,” Lykins shared.  “We plan on continuing to play strong, we have been playing great defense and that's what's kind of been getting us through, we're hitting the ball, we're not striking out a lot and we’ll take it a game at a time,” Lykins concluded.

Tri-County North will face three straight WOAC opponents starting on Monday hosting Mississinawa Valley, then at Newton on Tuesday and then host Tri-Village on Wednesday.

Twin Valley South Sidnee Elswick delivers to the plate in game against Tri-County North.

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FM's Jocelyn Gray gave the ball a ride for a three run blast in the 1st inning vs Bradford.

Game Photos: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.451338190579040&type=3

BRADFORD – The Bradford softball field resembled an amusement park as both teams took turns riding the rollercoaster.  In the end the Jets would enjoy the ride the most as they outlasted Bradford to record a 16-13 WOAC win.

Both teams brought plenty of offense to the game as the Jets racked up 17 hits to the Railroaders 13.

Franklin Monroe jumped out in front to start scoring 5 runs in the 1^st inning running off Bradford starting pitcher Casey Bolen.

Jets senior catcher Jocelyn Gray highlighted the 1^st inning with a towering home run to left field scoring 3 of the 5 runs.  Gray added two more hits in the game and tallied 5 RBI’s.

Franklin Monroe senior Olivia Sease connected on a solo homerun in the 2^nd inning.

FM senior Olivia Sease is congratulated at home plate after her solo homer in 2nd inning.

The Railroaders scored one run in the 1^st, 2 runs in the 2^nd and one in the 3^rd and trailed Franklin Monroe 6-4 heading into the top of the 4^th inning.

The Jets then exploded for seven runs in the top of the 4^th inning as they would put the ball into play as their singles began adding up.  Lila Davis hit a single scoring 2 runs, Alivia Addis followed with a single scoring a run and freshman 1^st baseman Faith Wintrow blasted one way out of the park for two more runs as the Jets built up a 13-4 advantage.

FM freshman Faith Wintrow went yard in the 4th inning for the Jets 3rd homerun.

Bradford added a run in the bottom of the 5^th inning only to see FM add 3 more runs in the top of the 6^th inning.  Jocelyn Gray hit a line drive to score Jozlynn Wintrow who led off with a double.   Gray eventually scored on a pass ball and sophomore Amy Addis scored off a base hit from Sease to build a 16-5 lead and they were looking to end the game by run rule if they could hold in the bottom half of the 6^th inning.

But it was Bradfords turn to ride the rollercoaster as they didn’t get the memo about the run rule.

Seniors Tegan and Alani Canan would lead the Roaders attack with a hit from Tegan scoring two runs followed by a single from Alani scoring two more runs.  The big knock in the inning was a bases loaded double from Chloe Hocker scoring three more runs to close the gap to 16-12 pushing the game into the 7^th inning.

Bradford freshman Chloe Hocker hit a big double as the Roaders fought back scoring 7 runs in the bottom of the 6th inning.

Bradford’s starting pitcher who was ran off the mound early returned in the 7^th and this time she shut the door not allowing another run by the Jets.

Then in the bottom of the 7^th inning the Railroaders freshman Kendal Weldy scored on a single from Alani Canan that would put pressure on Franklin Monroe.  Bradford had runners on 1^st and 2^nd base and the tying run at the plate … but a pop-up was reeled in by Joanie Hall near the dugout for the 3^rd out as FM held on for a dramatic 16-13 WOAC win.

Bradford senior Alani Canan singled in a run in the bottom of the 7th trying to come all the way back.

After the game Franklin Monroe senior 3^rd baseman Joanie Hall who had two of the last putouts in the game talked about playing in a back-and-forth game like this.

“It definitely was high scoring game but we came in with good energy that extended out onto the field, it’s all about having fun and that’s how we scored a lot of those runs, even before we stepped onto the field,” Hall said.

Bradford would make Franklin Monroe a little nervous especially late in the game and that was in partly due to their offense coming alive.

“We are a good hitting team. But as young as we are, emotions dictate talent when you’re a freshman and playing in this environment and in a league game. It was kind of rough at the beginning … but we got the girls to focus in on one thing and they started to come alive,” Bradford coach Shon Schaffer said after the game.

FM Senior catcher Jocelyn Gray who got the team going with her blast in the first inning talked about the start and then trusting one another as keys to winning, especially late in the game.

“It was a bit nerve wracking down the stretch … but I think you have to trust who you're beside if you don't believe in the people you have out on the field, it definitely affects how people play. Especially if you can see it in the dugout, it's all about trusting who you're around and if you're nervous then that's just going to spread to the whole field,” Gray stated.

Bradford certainly caught the attention of Franklin Monroe coach Jared Morris with the way they battled back.

“We got a little complacent when we had we had that 11-run lead. We thought we were good but that’s a credit to them they had at least five hits and was able to move the runners after we gave them a few bases and did what they needed to do by scoring seven runs to make it a tight game,” Morris commented.

Franklin Monroe Olivia Sease who belted a solo homer in the second inning and had 3 hits and two runs batted in also talked about the win.

“It was nice to play against a team that's pretty comparable with us.  We have a team full of hitters, so it was important to come out with positive energy, and I think that carried us through tonight to get the win,” Sease shared.

Franklin Monroe improves to 4-12 on the year and 3-3 in the WOAC while Bradford falls to 4-8 overall and 2-4 in the league.

Franklin Monroe pitcher Keihl Johnson would pick up the win. She allowed eight hits & five earned runs while striking out five in 5-1/3 innings.

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Ansonia softball team under 1st year coach David Fisherback wins back to back games over Newton and Mississinawa Valley.  

Game Photos: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?vanity=WOACSPORTS&set=a.450734153972777

NEWTON – The Ansonia softball team is beginning to hit their stride midway through the season after recording back-to-back wins, 7-1 over Newton on Wednesday night and 8-0 over Mississinawa on Thursday.

The Tigers made a late season run last year and finished 9-2 in the WOAC, won a sectional title before bowing out in the district semi-final game 4-1 against Riverside.  Ansonia ended up 16-9 overall with longtime coach Floyd Jenkins who notched 300 career wins.

But Jenkins retired after 20 years as head coach and this season David Fisherback takes over the program.

Fisherback has had a few different coaching experiences in his career that includes basketball and AAU softball and is the father of pitcher Jordyn Fisherback who had a stellar career at Greenville High School and then she went on to pitch at Middle Tennessee State University.

The Tigers have 5 seniors on this year’s team Maddie Buckingham, Kelsey Muhlenkamp, Bailey & Brenna Schmit and Abby Kramer giving them a solid core that returns.  They also have some youth mixed in and coach Fisherback believes they are starting to gain confidence and hit their stride.

Ansonia senior Brenna Schmit raps a base hit in game vs Newton. 

“We have some girls really starting to hit the ball well now after facing some really tough early season competition; Coldwater, New Bremen and Minster who are all really good softball teams.” Fisherback stated.

“Both Coldwater and New Bremen have great pitchers, with the Coldwater pitcher going to play at Central Michigan next year,” Fisherback added.

Ansonia and Newton found themselves in a tight game for the first 4 innings on Wednesday night. 

Newton junior pitcher Cori Haines kept Ansonia off balance early ... but the Tigers adjust to pull out a 7-1 win over the Indians.

The Tigers punched across a run in the 1^st inning on an RBI single from Abby Kramer scoring Kelsey Muhlenkamp.

Newton answered and manufactured a run in the bottom of the 1^st inning with Mya Denlinger stealing home.

The game remained tied until the 4^th inning when Abbey Klingshirn stole home on a throw to 2^nd base.  Kelsey Muhlenkamp would hit a double to score Bailey Schmitt and Maddie Buckingham to put the Tigers up 4-1.

Ansonia Kelsey Muhlenkamp smacks a double to drive in two runs against Newton.

Ansonia added one run each in the 5^th, 6^th & 7^th innings to go up 7-1.

Senior pitcher Abby Kramer after a slow start settled into the game and between her fastball and change-up was able to keep Newton off balance as she went the distance giving up just 2 hits,1 earned run and had 9 strikeouts. 

“After facing some tough pitchers against tough non-conference team's, tonight, it took a little bit of adjustment for us, but we had some girls put the bat on the ball,” Fisherback commented.

Kelsey Muhlenkamp was 2-4 with 2 rbi, freshman Addison Geyer went 3-4 with a rbi and Abby Kramer and sophomore Ava Thatcher both went 2-4.  Maddie Buckingham drew 3 walks and scored 2 runs as well.

Fisherback praised his five seniors in providing good leadership.

“Our seniors have experience and have been in big games over the years.  This team is extremely fast … but we are working on a lot of fundamental things and making routine plays.  We have a really good pitcher in Abby Kramer and if we can make plays we can compete with anyone,” Fisherback stated.

Kramer would turn around and throw again on Thursday night this time in a back-yard rivalry game at Mississinawa Valley.

Kramer would go the distance against the Blackhawks throwing a perfect game. She had 10 strikeouts in the 9-0 WOAC win.

Ansonia Abby Kramer threw a perfect game against Mississinawa Valley.

Addison Geyer was 3-4, 2 rbi, 2 runs scored, Abby Kramer was 2-3 a rbi, Kyle Caldwell was 2-2 and 2 runs scored, Maddie Buckingham 1-3 with 2 runs scored to lead the Tigers in the win over Mississinawa Valley.

Ansonia is now 7-4 overall and 3-1 in the WOAC with a league loss to Arcanum.

Currently Tri-Village and Tri-County North both lead the WOAC with 4-0 records, Arcanum is 5-1 and Ansonia 3-1 with opportunities yet for the top teams to make some noise.

Freshman Addison Geyer has been hot at the plate for Ansonia and is batting .433 this year.
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Newton sophomore pitcher Austin Tippie picked up a win over Ansonia.  

Game Photos: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.450715313974661&type=3

NEWTON – The Indians baseball team overcame a late comeback from Ansonia pushing across the winning run in the bottom of the 5^th beating the Tigers 4-3 to remain undefeated at 2-0 in the WOAC and 7-1 overall.

Ansonia coach Dustin Hecht was feeling pretty good about the way Ansonia was playing despite a 3-game losing streak after the way they battled Versailles on Monday night.

But Newton struck big to start the game plating 3 runs in the bottom half of the 1^st inning. 

Sophomore Austin Tippie hit a long sacrifice fly to left field scoring fellow sophomore Rhett Koffer to take a 1-0 lead.  Freshman Cole Alexander scored the 2^nd run by stealing home on a play toward 2^nd base and then sophomore Will Bowser singled to left field to score senior Ty Schauer for a quick 3-0 lead for the Indians against a strong Ansonia pitcher Keegen Weiss.

Brady Downing puts a good rap on the ball in game against Ansonia. 

“Our guys have been pitching really well this year, but Weiss took one to the shoulder blade last night and I think that was a little bit of a factor in the way things started out tonight and made it a little bit tough, but he was very competitive. He's a dog when he gets out there and he'll fight all the way to the end,” coach Hecht would say after the game.

Ansonia scored a run in the top of the 2^nd inning to make the score 3-1 and that’s where the game stood until the top of 5^th inning.

Ansonia senior pitcher Keegen Weiss pitched a solid game and drove in the tying run in the 5th inning.  But Newton was able to answer another run to pick up a 4-3 WOAC win.

Tiger sophomore Cainan Robinson scored a run at the top of the 5^th inning, and they pushed another run across the plate on a sacrifice fly from Keegen Weiss scoring Lander Shives to tie the game at 3 each.

The Indians though answered right away in the bottom of the inning when Austin Tippie hit a double that scored Cole Alexander taking the lead 4-3.

Freshman Kam Ingle was able to make the tag on Ridge Gray sliding into 2nd base.

Ansonia was unable to generate a threat in the 6^th and went down in order in the 7^th inning as Newton held on for the 4-3 WOAC win.

After the game Newton coach Jordan Kopp was pleased with his team and how they responded after the late game rally by Ansonia.

“The Weiss kid is a really good pitcher and if you would have told me before the game that we're going to get nine hits when we haven't swung the bats really well of recent, I’d take that.  But when you get nine hits you expect to score some runs. I told the guys at the end I thought we left a lot of runners on base, left runs out there and made some mistakes  and struggled some with our small ball stuff, which is something we take a lot of pride in. But I’m really proud of the kids when things aren't working, you know and it's a close game to really come through and I was happy how we finished up,” Kopp stated.

Coach Hecht feels his team was right there and has been competitive in every game and with a break here or there could have a few more victories in the win column.

“Yeah, that's kind of how our seasons went. We've been really competitive almost every game we've been in. Been right there. Just a couple plays here and there could turn the whole season around. Tonight was a tough one, we came out a little flat which was a little disappointing. We had a real competitive game with for Versailles last night and I really expected that energy to carry over and we just we didn't come out with that fire today,” Hecht offered up.

There is still plenty of season for the Tigers to make some noise and Hecht is counting on his seniors to lead the squad the rest of the way.

“So far it's been a team effort this year and once our top gets going our bottom comes right along we're hitting and putting it together. That top is a lot of senior leadership that carries right on to those lower guys. I’ve got four seniors, two juniors, a sophomore and two freshmen so we have a good mix in the lineup,” Hecht shared.

The Tigers fell to 3-6 overall and 2-2 in the WOAC.

Newton was able to jump start their season by traveling to Florida where they would go 3-1.

“We got to experience great weather on our trip, and we are thankful that our school administration and school board help us out and gave us this opportunity that not a lot of schools get,” Kopp said.

“We take everybody, all 20 guys and got in four varsity games and three JV games and played some good competition,” he added.

We are a young team, but we have three arms that we're really confident in. Senior Ty Shauer, he's a lefty and has a handful of wins and gives us some experience.  Austin Tippy a sophomore and kind of a hard throwing guy, who maybe didn't have his best stuff today, but man he competed really well, and we have a freshman pitcher Cole Alexander who has had a start … but we're hopeful that this week he's going to get another if the weather holds out.  So, we’re really excited about the three arms we have, and we think those three guys can keep us in pretty much any league game we play,” Kopp concluded.

Ansonia Landyn Bowman was able to beat out an infield hit as Newton 1st baseman Rhett Koffer stretches for the ball.
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Arcanum senior pitcher Hannah Kendig had 5 strikeouts and gave up two hits to get the win over Mississinawa Valley.

UNION CITY – Mississinawa Valley hosted Arcanum in a WOAC match-up and the Hawks coming into the game have been competitive in the early going of the season.  But it was all Arcanum as they were hot at the plate banging out 21 hits on their way to a 24-0 win.

“We were a little nervous about their pitcher coming in because she has thrown a lot of strikeouts and stuff … but  I think we only had one strikeout tonight as everybody did their job,” Arcanum coach Mike Morris said after the game.

Morris was referring to Mississinawa freshman pitcher Ella Godfrey who Arcanum touched up for 12 runs in the first inning, which wasn’t the kind of start Mississinawa Valley coach Max Guillozet expected or wanted to see.

"It’s still somewhat early in the season but so far that's the best team we have seen.  They hit the ball hard, I mean, basically one through nine they hit the ball well,”  Guillozet stated.

Arcanum left the bases early to stem the damage to end the first inning with a 12-0 lead.

“I hate leaving bases early and hoped it didn't backfire on us, but I respect Coach Guillozet and didn’t want to run up the score,” coach Morris said after the big 1^st inning.

Arcanum would plate 4 runs in the 2^nd, 1 in the 3^rd, 4 in the 4^th and 3 in the 5^th inning for 24 runs.

It would be a tough outing for Godfrey acknowledged coach Guillozet.

Mississinawa freshman pitcher Ella Godfrey ran into some hot hitting vs Arcanum.

“I'll be honest, Ella pitched literally with no rest, and she won't tell me when she's hurting and one of those kids that wants to pitch and refuses to come out of the game, she has very strong character, just a freshman who’s only going to get better,” Guillozet commented.

Leading the way for Arcanum was Jordyn Garbig going 5-for-5, scoring 5 runs and 2 rbi.  Ashlyn Miller was 3-for-3 with 3 runs and 1 rbi.  Ella Flatter was 3-for-5  with 2 runs and 3 rbi.  Emilie Fout was 2-for-3 including a double and a home run.  Marli Morris was 2-for-3 with 2 runs. Matty Noe was 2-for-2 with 1 run and 3 rbi and Belle Harleman was 2-for-2 with 1 run and 1 rbi.

Freshman Jordyn Garbig went 5-5 at the plate as the Trojans racked up 21 hits on the night.

Arcanum’s early season start, and record may not indicate it at 6-7 overall and 3-1 in the WOAC, but they are a good softball team and if they continue to hit the way they did tonight coach Morris will be very pleased.

“The coaches and I were talking on our way here that none of our losses are bad losses, like Miamisburg, Talawanda, Kenton Ridge, they are all good teams and all doing well.

"So, hopefully, knowing we threw a young team to the wolves by starting four freshman and sophomores, we’re only going to get better by the time tournament starts, there won't be anything we haven't seen," Morris added.

"Hopefully we continue to hit the ball well and tomorrow get another win to get back to 500. And we can keep this thing rolling,” Morris continued.

One of the highlights of the game was a line drive homerun by Emilie Fout that put a smile on Morris’s face.

Emilie Fout hits her 3rd homerun one in each of the last 3 games.  

Yes that was good to see especially after we moved her down into the eight hole 3 days ago and she's got three home runs since, which sort of makes me look like a genius” Morris laughed.

Fout would give the homerun ball to her grandpa and grandma Steve and Christa Gruber.

Grandpa Steve & Grandma Christa Gruber get to collect the home run balls to put on display for their grand daughter Emilie Fout.

Steve has the fun job of collecting them and preparing them to put them into a display for his granddaughter.

Starting pitcher for Arcanum was senior lefthander Hannah Kendig going 3 innings with 5 strikeouts and 2 hits.  Senior Belle Harleman pitched 2 innings in relief with 1 strikeout and gave up two hits as well.

Mississinawa 4 hits came from junior Stephanie De La Torre, sophomore Cora Hoggatt, sophomore Cayde Neukam and senior Kenzea Townsend. 

The Blackhawks have just 3 seniors on the squad Townsend, Makenna Guillozet and Tori Cooley and start 3 freshman and 3 sophomores but coach Guillozet in his second year as softball coach at Mississinawa feels like they have made strides from last season.

“Before today, I felt like we've been competitive in about all the games we've played. We won just two games last year and we've already won three this year and we're still somewhat early in the season,” Guillozet shared.

The Hawk’s record is 3-4 overall and 2-2 in the WOAC.

“We just have to put this one behind us and move on,” Guillozet concluded. 

Mississinawa will play at Twin Valley south Tuesday night.

Senior shortstop Makenna Guillozet gets the out ... but the Trojans made it difficult on the defense with 21 hits in the game. 

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