Staff report
HOUSTON — Barring a major upset, the County softball championship will be shared by three teams when the last out is made this season.
That scenario surfaced on Monday night, when Fort Loramie upset Houston in a 2-1 thriller in County play.
Houston is now 9-2 in the County, and both Loramie and Russia are sitting at 8-2. And those top three face the three of the leagues’s bottom three to complete the season.
Houston has only one league game left, against Jackson Center. Loramie still has Botkins and Jackson Center, and Russia plays Fairlawn and Botkins.
Overall, Fort Loramie went to 12-12 with the win Monday and Houston now stands at 16-8.
Fort Loramie is in tournament play Thursday either at Newton or home against Mechanicsburg. Houston also plays in sectional play Thursday at home against either Bradford or Mississinawa.
Loramie took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first Monday when Jessica Boerger smacked a solo home run.
Houston came back to tie the game in the third. Grace Riffell reached on an error and was followed by a sacrifice. Micalah Hensley singled to center, and the run came home on a sacrifice fly by Sarah Monnier.
Fort Loramie retook the lead in the top of the fourth, however. Boerger singled and moved up on an error. Kara Magoteaux came through with two outs with a single to shallow right that plated Boerger to complete the scoring.
Loramie got out of a jam in the bottom of the fifth. Houston had runners on second and third with two out when a wild pitch went to the backstop. But the ball took a favorable hop for Loramie right to the catcher, who tossed it to Kristin Ratermann to get the runner at the plate.
Batting for Houston at the time was Monnier, who was 2-for-2 at that point.
“It’s those types of breaks that make a game,” said Loramie coach Brad Turner.
“It was a good game,” said Houston’s Brent New. “Four girls pitched in the game and all four did very well.”
Megan Koppin got the win, allowing four hits and striking out four. Kayla New went five innings and allowed just two hits while also striking out four.
Houston outhit Loramie 4-3.
The linescore:
FL`100 100 0`23`1
Hou.`001 000 0`1`4`2
WP: Koppin; LP: New
Records: Houston 16-8, Loramie 12-12.
COUNTY STANDINGS — Houston 9-2, Fort Loramie 8-2, Russia 8-2, Jackson Center 4-5, Anna 4-6, Fairlawn 2-9, Botkins 0-9.
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D-1 Sectional
Tecumseh 7, Sidney 0
NEW CARLISLE — Despite Tecumseh having a winning record, Sidney coach Wade New said he expected his Lady Jackets to advance out of their first-round Division 1 sectional softball game on Monday.
But they managed just three hits and went down to defeat by a 7-0 final.
Tecumseh is 14-10 and advances to the semifinals against Centerville. Sidney falls to 11-13.
Sidney appeared ready to take quick control of the game when the first two Lady Jackets to bat were both hit by a pitch. But the next three hitters all struck out.
Then in the fourth, Sidney got a single and another batter was hit by a pitch. But they were both stranded.
The linescore:
Sid.`000 000 0`0`3`0
Tec.`100 501 x`7`10`0
WP: Wilson; LP: Shell
Records: Sidney 11-13, Tecumseh 14-10.
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D-3 Sectional
Versailles 5, Anna 3
VERSAILLES — Anna took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first, but couldn’t maintain the advantage in losing its postseason opener Monday in Division 3 Sectional play at Versailles, 5-3.
The loss drops Anna to 7-13 on the year. Versailles goes to 11-6 and advances to play No. 3-seeded Northwestern on the road Wednesday.
Macey Richard and Alexis Phillips led off the game with back-to-back singles for the Lady Rockets, and Riley Osborn was then hit by a pitch to load the bases with nobody out.
Paige Richard reached on an error that allowed a run to score, and then Olivia Place got a one-out single to make it 2-0. However, Versailles pitcher Lauren Heitkamp struck out the next two hitters to short-circuit the uprising.
Versailles got one back in the bottom of the first on Kristin Langston’s double and a single by Cori Lawrence. Then an inning later, Kami McEldowney led off with a single, and that was followed by two straight walks to load the bases. Danielle Poor then plated McEldowney with a sacrifice fly but that was all the Lady Tigers could mange.
They did take the lead in the fourth, however, and put up three runs to make it 5-2. McEldowney drove in one run with a double, Lawrence had an RBI on a sacrifice fly, and Hailey McEldowney drove in the final run with an infield single.
Anna got its last run in the fifth on a single by Phillips.
Versailles outhit the Lady Rockets 10-4, with K. McEldowney, Langston and H. McEldowney both getting two hits.
The linescore:
Anna`200 010 0`3`4`2
Ver.`101 300 x`5`10`3
WP: Lawrence; LP: Place
Records: Versailles 11-6, Anna 7-13.
Versailles’ next tournament game: Wednesday, sectional semifinals, at third-seeded Northwestern.
