Published: July 08, 2008 01:27 am            

District V Tournament: Jeff/GRC gets much-needed win

Power, pitching push Jeff to second win in tourney

After a 16-6 loss to Highlander Youth Recreation on Thursday, the Jeff/GRC 11-year-old All-Stars were in desperate need of a win to stay in the title hunt.

Thanks to a solid pitching performance by Harrison Dale and some power hitting by its offense, Jeff/GRC got exactly what it needed — a 6-3 victory over New Albany on Monday.

Dale pitched five innings, giving up just three hits and striking out five New Albany batters without surrendering a walk.

“Harrison did a good job and the defense backed him up,” Jeff coach Scott Fertig said. “They worked well together.”

Dale kept New Albany scoreless until it broke on top with a run in the fourth. Jack Shine opened the inning with a stand-up double down the right-field line, then scored on a Bradley Botteroff one-out double.

Jeff responded with a key four-run inning.

It began with Dalton Brown’s leadoff double to the centerfield fence. The next batter, Hunter Holcomb, singled to center field to tie the score. With Holcomb on third, Ryan Mueller’s single gave Jeff its first lead.

Two batters later, Casey Gibson homered over the right-center fence to give Jeff a 4-1 lead.

New Albany pulled within 4-2 on a run in the fifth, then Jeff tacked on two more runs on a two-run homer by Drew Reich.

“We’ve been (hitting with power) a lot in practice,” Fertig said. “It was good timing to get a couple (of home runs) in the game tonight. But I warned them not to fall in love with home runs. That can get you in trouble.”

Reich came on to pitch the sixth, picking up a save and striking out two batters.

“I’m very happy with the way we played,” Fertig said. “New Albany played excellently, too. I’m just proud that we pulled it out.”

It was also a good result for New Albany, which dropped its opener to Charlestown and had been beaten 14-1 by Jeff in a tournament last week.

“This team is a different team than when we first started,” New Albany coach Paul Moses said. “We’re much improved. We’re coming on and getting stronger.



• HYR stays unbeaten: HYR remained the only unbeaten team in the 11-year-old field with an extra-inning, come-from-behind 3-2 win over Silver Creek on Monday.

Silver Creek scored a run in the top of the eighth to take the lead, but Spencer Daughney hit a two-RBI single that scored Trey Fulton and Joey Collins with no outs to give HYR the victory.



11-12 Softball

• Silver Creek advanced to Tuesday’s 11-12 softball championship game with a 4-1 win over Clarksville on Monday.

Silver Creek will face HYR at 8 p.m. at Charlestown’s Hazel Howard Field.

The Silver Creek All-Stars jumped on top with two runs in the first inning. Shayla Cravens got things started with a lead-off walk. After Charlie Wolford singled, Tori Martin sacrificed Cravens to third and Wolford to second.

A wild pitch allowed Cravens to score the game’s first run and a throwing error plated Wolford and gave Silver Creek an early 2-0 lead.

“(Until Monday), we had been the home team every game,” Silver Creek coach Paul Cravens said. “We took advantage of being the visitors. We put them on their heels and it put us in the right frame of mind.”

Clarksville countered with a run of its own in the first. Ariel Oler reached on an error, then stole second and third. She later scored when Ali Sparkman grounded out to third base.

The two teams were held scoreless until Silver Creek picked up two insurance runs in the top of the sixth inning.

Jessica Parrish made sure the runs stood up. She threw a complete game, giving up just four hits. She struck out only two, but walked just one.

“It was a big game for her to (walk only one batter),” Coach Cravens said. “She just doesn’t show any nerves.”

Cravens was equally proud of his team’s defensive performance. If his team plays defense like it did on Monday, Cravens said he thinks his squad has a shot at upsetting HYR, which beat Silver Creek 10-6 earlier in the tournament.

“If we play defense like that, I don’t think there’s any doubt what the result will be,” he said. “That’s the best we’ve played, easily.”

The win over Clarksville helped Silver Creek reach the goal it stated before the tournament.

“I told the girls that we just wanted the opportunity (to play for the title),” Cravens said. “We’ve put ourselves in that position. Now we just need to finish it off.”



13-14 Softball

• Jeff/GRC kicked off the 13-14 softball tournament with a dramatic 8-6 win over Charlestown.

Jeff scored two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to break a 6-6 tie.

Sydney Dobbs opened the sixth with a single, then went to second on a wild pitch. Sam Abrahamson then hit a game-winning RBI single to left field. After an error sent her to third, Abrahamson scored when Maddy Powell grounded out to the Charlestown pitcher.

Kayla Poppe went 2-for-3 with a double and a walk for Jeff.



9-10 Baseball

• New Albany stayed unbeaten in the 9-10 baseball tournament with a big 12-7 win over Jeffersonville.

New Albany trailed 3-1 after the first inning, but then scored 11 runs over the third, fourth and fifth frames.

Trailing 7-6 after three, Justin Strigel and Tim Redford hit back-to-back home runs to key a five-run fourth inning that gave New Albany the lead for good.

Matt Sogge went 3-for-4 and scored three runs for New Albany. Ricky West went 2-for-4 with a double and knocked in three runs. Zach Landrum also scored three times.

Drew Campbell and Tre Watson both homered for Jeff/GRC in the loss.

• Despite having just five hits, HYR also stayed unbeaten in the 9-10 division with an 11-9 win over Clarksville.

Clarksville led 3-1 after one inning and 7-6 after three until HYR’s five-run fourth inning gave it the lead for good.

Clarksville had the bases loaded with one out, trailing 11-9 in the sixth inning. HYR Relief pitcher Dalton Garlock faced just one batter to pick up the save. He got Michael Byrnes to pop out to Kyle Peters at third base. Clarksville’s Logan Been tried to tag up from third, but was thrown out at the plate for the final out of the game.



13-14 Baseball

• In a battle of unbeaten teams in the 13-14 tournament, Jeffersonville had to overcome a 7-1 deficit to defeat Silver Creek, 12-7.

Jeff scored four runs in the fourth inning, then added eight more in the sixth to improve to 2-0 in pool play.

Tyler White led Jeff — which had four singles and drew four walks in the eight-run sixth — by going 3-for-5 with a double and two RBIs. Alex Vogel went 2-for-2 with a double and two RBIs.

• HYR improved to 3-0 in the tournament with a 10-0 win over Charlestown. HYR, which needs to win one of its last two games in pool play to earn a spot in the title game, has outscored its opponents 33-6 in its three games.

        

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