{"id":2189,"date":"2023-05-12T11:23:32","date_gmt":"2023-05-12T15:23:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/?p=2189"},"modified":"2023-05-14T20:12:56","modified_gmt":"2023-05-15T00:12:56","slug":"starfires-bunt-steal-their-way-past-adams-central-to-spoil-jets-title-hopes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/2023\/05\/12\/starfires-bunt-steal-their-way-past-adams-central-to-spoil-jets-title-hopes\/","title":{"rendered":"Starfires bunt, steal their way past Adams Central to spoil Jets’ title hopes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

DANE FUELLING<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

WZBD.com<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pressure of a conference title race and a big rivalry game between Adams Central and South Adams was evident on both sides Thursday night. The two teams nearly combined for as many errors (13) as hits (17), but by the time Peyton Pries entered the game to pitch in the fifth inning, the visiting Starfires led 8-1 and there was no way the senior leader of the team was going to let that lead slip away. The game ended with a 9-2 Starfire victory, dashing the hopes of Adams Central to win the ACAC title. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Bekah Patterson celebrates a triple Thursday as her Starfires beat rival Adams Central 9-2. <\/em>(Photo by Kris Everett)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Proud sponsor of South Adams athletics on WZBD.com!<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe won with humility last night,\u201d noted head coach Jessie O\u2019Dell after a fairly uneventful end to the game and a quiet seventh inning for both teams. \u201cWe know how good that team is and we know that if we can get by Bluffton, we will have to play them again.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gracy Bixler fired the first four innings for South Adams, allowing just four hits and one unearned run. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Gracy Bixler allowed just one unearned run in her four innings against AC Thursday. (Photo by Kris Everett) <\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Pries allowed three hits in her three innings of work and was credited with the save. She struck out two. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The key half-inning in the game was a four-run effort by the visitors in the top of the second. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After scoring a run with a sacrifice fly in the first, the Starfires continued to play small ball in the second. Tessa Bernard was stranded on second base with two outs, but the situation did not prevent coach O\u2019Dell from asking Cora Baker to lay down a bunt. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Tessa Bernard crosses the plate in the second inning. <\/em>(Photo by Kris Everett)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Baker did as she was asked and reached on a bunt single, turning the lineup over to leadoff hitter Macy Pries, who tripled in two and then scored herself on Bekah Patterson\u2019s triple. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Peyton Pries made it 5-0 with a double. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Peyton Pries was 1 for 2 with a double and two RBI Thursday. She started the game at third base and finished the game at pitcher. (Photo by Kris Everett) <\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Baker had another bunt single to start a rally that ended with a sacrifice fly by Peyton Pries in the fourth. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cora equalled her earlier feat with a third bunt single in the fifth inning, this time with a runner on third, and drove in the eighth run for the Starfires. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adams Central got a run back with the speed of Jenna Cook, who was safe at home on a straight steal with Sophia Schwartz at the plate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Jenna Cook walked twice and scored in Adams Central’s loss against South Adams Thursday. (Photo by Kris Everett) <\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Schwartz was subsequently hit with a pitch by Peyton Pries, but the senior induced a double play with a pop up to sister Macy Pries, who then threw to second to get Melina Peralez, who was off the bag. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Adams added an insurance run with a delayed double steal with runners on first and third and Peyton Pries coming home to make it 9-2. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe were excited and proud. We get back to work this weekend,\u201d said O\u2019Dell of his team\u2019s matchup with Eastbrook Saturday. \u201cWe know that the next time we face AC, the task will be even tougher.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just a reminder that we still have a lot to work on,\u201d noted AC head coach Cary Blake. \u201cA lot to do and improve to be a really good team.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Macy Pries was 3 for 5 for the winning side, while Melina Peralez finished 3 for 4 in the losing effort for the Jets. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Addie Baker threw the first four innings and allowed seven runs, with four being scored as earned. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maddie Hill threw the final three innings, allowing two runs and striking out three. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Adams is set to play at Eastbrook Saturday, while Adams Central will host Angola in a doubleheader that same afternoon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DANE FUELLING WZBD.com The pressure of a conference title race and a big rivalry game between Adams Central<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2194,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[29,15,40,28,26],"class_list":["post-2189","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-adamscentral","tag-featured","tag-softball","tag-southadams","tag-sports"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wzbd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/8I7A3049-scaled.jpeg?fit=2560%2C2068&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2189","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2189"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2189\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2194"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2189"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2189"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2189"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}