The local softball season is finally underway with area teams back from Spring Break and with full rosters and good weather making it feel much more like the season is underway. The first big game of the local schedule was Tuesday’s marquee county matchup between Adams Central and Bellmont and the home Braves won a thriller in extra innings, 3-2.
Bella Ashley delivered the knockout punch with the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the eighth, scoring MK Scheumann, who had started the rally with a walk.
The game was closely contested and the first run did not cross the plate until the bottom of the fourth, when Ashley knocked in Scheumann in a foreshadowing of the game’s end.
The Braves added an insurance run in the bottom of the fifth with the wheels of Aaliyah Faurote, who used her speed to swipe extra bases after an infield single. She scored on a dash home on a wild pitch.
The Jets tied the game with a pair of runs in the top of the next inning on an error in the outfield off the bat of Athena Schwartz.
Lilli Jackson threw the whole game for the Jets, striking out six and allowing seven hits across 7.1 innings.
Ashley was the only Brave with more than one hit and she also earned the victory, allowing just one hit against recording eight outs. She pitched in relief of MK Scheumann, who left the game with a 2-0 lead. Two runners she left on base when she departed scored, but both runs were unearned on the error. Scheumann struck out eight in 5.1 innings.