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Tri-Village softball team improves to 11-1 overall and 6-0 in WOAC alone in 1st place.

Photos: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?vanity=WOACSPORTS&set=a.455316223514570

LEWISBURG – The last two unbeaten softball teams Tri-County North and Tri-Village in the WOAC squared off Wednesday night with two of the top pitchers in the league going toe to toe.  Tri-Village on the strength of a homerun in the 4^th and two runs in the 6^th came out on top 3-0.

Going in it was no surprise that strong pitching and defense were going to be a key in the game.

The Panthers came in at 7-0 in the WOAC leaning on junior pitcher Kasidi Daugherty who has pitched 65 innings with a 2.91 ERA and 80 strikeouts 4^th best in the league.

Tri-Village came in at 5-0 in the WOAC riding the arm of Elizabeth Poling who has pitched 54 innings with a 2.09 ERA and 54 strikeouts.

It was a pitcher’s duel, a scoreless game into the 4^th inning until shortstop Camryn Osborne struck the first blow that eventually was the game winner, a blast over the right field fence for her 3rd homerun of the season to give TV a 1-0 lead.

TV's Camryn Osborne drives her 3rd homer over the right field fence to give the PATS a 1-0 lead over North in 4th inning.

Coming into the game Osborne had 15 hits leading the team in batting percentage at .536, which is also the 2^nd best in the WOAC.

The Panthers got out of the 4th inning trailing by one run … but both coaches agreed the homerun was big at that point in the game.

“I thought if we could strike first, it would definitely give us the advantage. But they struck first and grabbed the momentum,” Tri-County North coach Shelly Lykins stated.

Tri-Village coach Emily Osborne agreed on her daughter Camryn’s homerun.

“There is nothing like a homerun to get your team going,” Osborne said.  “I think it was in the fourth inning she hit a homerun in the Arcanum game as well and it certainly helped swing the momentum to our side,” Osborne added.

Emily Poling retired the Panthers at the bottom of the 4^th and the Patriots went right to work at the top of the 5^th looking to add more runs as Hailey Burk led off with a double.

Gracie Hemp takes a throw from catcher Kora Lykins and puts a tag on Hailey Burke

The Patriots attempted to bunt with no outs to move the runner to 3^rd base … but on the missed attempt the runner tried to take 3^rd base and a great throw by Kora Lykins along with a good catch and tag by shortstop Gracie Hemp erased a possible insurance run as the Panthers got out of the inning unscathed.

Tri-Village threatened again at the top of the 6^th inning and this time converted when Hailey Burk singled in Osborne, followed by an Emma Cantrell walk with the bases loaded to bring Aereonna Baker home for a 3-0 advantage.

The score remained 3-0 heading into the bottom half of the 7^th with TCN last at bat.

Emily Poling was up to the task and finished the game to earn her 8^th win of the season, she surrendered just three hits, struck out six and gave up zero runs in the win.

Emily Poling gets her 8th win of the season.

Kasidi Daugherty took the tough loss going a full 7 innings allowing three runs on nine hits and struck out seven.  Daugherty was also 2-3 at the plate for the Panthers.  Bella Cherry was the only other North player to collect a hit.

Coming into the game junior catcher Kora Lykins had a 5-game hit streak and she would see that come to an end.

Coach Lykins knew it was going to be a tough battle and it would be a challenge to keep the Patriots offense from scoring.

Kasidi Daugherty took the loss on the mound but would collect two of the teams three hits in the game.

“We tried to pitch a lot of balls tonight, and not give a lot of strikes to their top four hitters and we did a good job at that,” Lykins explained.  “But you know, when you're a good hitter, you're going to find a way. And that's what they did, and we just couldn't keep up with them offensively.  I felt like we hit well, we just hit it right at them,” Lykins added.

Patriots coach Osborne also talked about how her team handled the way the Panthers pitched to them.

“They know our players and stats and how to pitch us, we just had to show patience and make some adjustments and finally strung some hits together to get on the scoreboard,” Osborne commented.

Senior Kiersten Wilcox has been a leader all year for PATS & is 3rd in batting .533 in WOAC. She also has a 0.526 OBP & 0.892 slugging percentage this season.

“It’s something we've been working on all year trying to keep momentum on our side by being solid from the top to the bottom and really encouraging the girls not to hang their heads, to stay positive all the way through, push and fight like a team till the end,” Osborne said.

Tri-County North falls to 7-1 in the WOAC and 7-9 overall, but coach Lykins reminded the girls there are still plenty of league games left and anything can happen. 

“It's not over and we're still in the hunt, we can still win it, or possibly finish as co-champions if this is our only loss,” Lykins concluded.

North has yet to play Arcanum and Ansonia who both also have just one loss and still in the hunt for a league title.

Tri-Village now sits alone at the top of the WOAC at 6-0 and is 11-1 overall.  They control their own destiny but still have league games with Bradford, Twin Valley South, Preble Shawnee, Ansonia and Newton.

“It’s a good feeling to be undefeated at the top of the league, but we know there are some big games left and we’ll take it a game at a time,” Osborne concluded.

Shortstop Camryn Osborn fields a ball on the other side of 2nd base and then dives to base to get the force out on a acrobatic defensive play in win over TCN 3-0.
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Arcanum senior Jacob Flayler who is a team and fan favorite gets the walk off line drive hit to secure the 15-5 run rule win for Arcanum.  

Game Photos: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.454109796968546&type=3

ARCANUM – Arcanum’s baseball team brought out the timber laying some wood to the baseball Monday night with 12 hits and defeated Preble Shawnee 15-5 in WOAC action.

The Trojans got off to a shaky start in the game as Preble Shawnee scored 2 runs to start.

“We had the first batter out and they hit a ball back to our pitcher, we make an error and then have a pass ball leaving runners on second and third and give up two runs to start the game,” Arcanum coach Randy Baker said.

Shawnee’s Kaid Runyon hit a sacrifice fly to score Xavier Davidson and that was followed by a single from Lane Lovely plating Gavin Schmidt to give the Arrows a 2-0 lead.

Arcanum though responded in the bottom half of the inning scoring 5 runs. 

Caleb Burke singled to center to score Ethan Kearny.  The Trojans had the bases loaded and Luke Stephens drew a walk allowing Regan Christ to score.  Kolton Quigney reach on an error and Bryce Kramer came home.  Then Dakota Kendig followed with another hard hit to third base that was bobbled, and Caleb Burke scored.  The final run scored was by Luke Stephens on walk drawn by Derek Longstreth. 

Preble Shawnee pitcher Colton Strong would be done for the night and into the game was Kaid Runyon who finally coaxed a flyout to end the 1^st inning.

Preble Shawnee's Kaid Runyon was one of three pitchers on the night for the Arrows.

Arcanum added 7 more runs in the bottom of the 2^nd inning to jump ahead 12-2.

Both Lucas Miller and Kolton Quigney each hit doubles scoring two runs each.  Ethan Kearney and Regan Christ both hit singles scoring runs as well. 

Shawnee's Xander Davidson tries to tag out Arcanum Kolton Quigney.  

At the top of the 3^rd freshman pitcher Bishop Cartwright came in to relieve junior pitcher Seth Fearon.

The Arrows scored 3 runs in the inning as Cartwright tried to settle into the game.

Landon Lovely walked scoring Xander Davidson, followed by a Caleb Blankenship single to score Lane Lovely and Colton Strong before Cartwright caught a pop-fly to end the inning cutting the Trojans lead to 12-5.

Caleb Blankenship gets an rbi single for the Arrows.

Arcanum scored 2 more runs in the bottom half of the 4^th inning to go up 14-5. 

Cartwright took the Arrows down in order at the top of the 5^th inning and all Arcanum needed was a run in the bottom half of the inning to run rule Shawnee.

The Trojans loaded the bases and brought up senior Jacob Flayler to the plate, a team and fan favorite. Flayler drove the ball to center field scoring Regan Christ to end the game giving Arcanum a run rule victory 15-5.

“You know, you give him a shot there and he hits the ball right up the middle and did exactly what you want him to do for the walk off hit to finish the game.  That's a big move for the senior there and I'm glad he got to have that moment because he works extremely hard and for him to get that moment was awesome,” Coach Baker would say after the game.

Baker talked about the slow start but how they responded with their bats and got an opportunity to get some of his younger pitcher’s experience on the hill.

“We started out a little rough, but then I think we responded really well with our bats by coming out and putting a five spot in the first inning.  I thought, for the first time this year, we started to hit like what we've been seeing in practice, BP and in the cages, which is a great sign for us,” Baker explained.

Arcanum junior Seth Fearon throws 2 innings but picks up the win over Preble Shawnee.

“We had a chance to throw Seth Fearon but only had a fastball tonight.  Then we brought in our freshman Bishop Cartwright, and he got a little rattled to start but then he calmed down and threw well so it was a good learning experience for him,” Baker added.

Arcanum improves to 9-6 overall and is tied in 2^nd place in the WOAC at 5-1 with Dixie. 

The Trojans have 3 seniors, 3 juniors, 6 sophomores and 3 freshmen on the team this year so they are relatively young according to Baker.

“We're a young team, we're going to have our ups and downs, but they’ve grown already.  It's going to take time. We're teaching some things that they've never even heard of before and we're trying to try to do it on the run and they have taken what we've been saying, working hard and it has instilled confidence at the plate.  So, we're really proud of the guys,” Baker concluded.

Arcanum will play three more league games this week with TV South, Franklin Monroe and Tri-County North then a big game on May 2^nd at Newton.

Preble Shawnee fall to 0-10 overall and 0-5 in the WOAC.  They have league games with Ansonia and Newton this week.

Dakota Kendig and Lucas Miller give a high five with their helmets as the Trojans pick up their 5th win in the WOAC.

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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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