Jimmies stun Falcons

By STU SWARTZ
Goshen News Sports Editor

May 29, 2009 11:20 am

— That championship moment went Jimtown’s way Thursday night in a Class 2A high school girls softball sectional at Fairfield.
Jimtown scored three runs in the top of the seventh inning to stun the host Lady Falcons, 4-3, and earn a spot in the four-team 2A regional on Saturday, June 6, at LaVille.
It looked good for Fairfield just a few minutes earlier when senior Kayla Ostrander ripped a home run over the fence in left field to give the Falcons a 3-1 lead.
But Jimtown’s No. 7 and No. 9 hitters, junior Traci Adams and freshman Taylor Alvey, drew walks in the top of the seventh and that spelled trouble for Fairfield.
Jimmie sophomore leadoff hitter Alicia Ward laced a double to left center, scoring both Adams and Alvey with the tying runs.
Then, senior Brittney Neice slapped a single down the right field line and Ward scored what proved to be the winning run.
Jimtown coach Brent Kulp, his team now 24-1, said, “It all happened so fast, it’s hard to think of what to say right now. We had been hitting the ball hard early in the game and had no breaks.
“Then we got a couple runners on in the seventh inning and our good hitters came through. We had good speed on the bases so I was sending those runners on Ward’s hit.
“I can’t say enough about our team for coming back against a good team like Fairfield which made a lot of great players throughout the game. When Ostrander hit that home run to make it 3-1, things looked bleak for us.
“We’ve had some good softball teams at Jimtown, but this is the first to win 24 games.”
Fairfield had scored in the first as senior Melaniie Schrock reached on an error, Ostrander was hit by a pitch and senior Kristen Burkholder slapped an RBI single to left.
An inning later, Falcon junior Kelsi Burkholder tripled and scored on another Jimmie miscue.
The Jimmies scored in the fifth when sophomore Jaclyn Bailey walked, was sacrificed to second by Alvey and scored on an error.
Falcon coach Jophn Skibbe, his team done at 22-7, said, “Right now, we don’t look at this game. We look at our six seniors, what they have done for this program and school. They are great young ladies on and off the field.”
Those seniors are Nicole Mullet, Kristen Burkholder, Kayla Ostrander, Melanie Schrock, Maddie Kritzman and Courtney Herschberger.
“Our girls know how to win, but in this game the breaks didn’t go our way at the end. We played solid defense most of the game, but Jimtown’s hitters got it done in the last inning.
“Nicole Mullet did a tremendous job pitching for us, holding down a good hitting team like Jimtown. She gave us a chance to win. Facing their good hitters a fourth time was tough, but we were sticking with our senior.”

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