{"id":25690,"date":"2025-04-27T14:03:11","date_gmt":"2025-04-27T18:03:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/?p=25690"},"modified":"2025-04-27T14:03:13","modified_gmt":"2025-04-27T18:03:13","slug":"braves-drop-two-close-games-to-finish-fourth-at-kokomo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/27\/braves-drop-two-close-games-to-finish-fourth-at-kokomo\/","title":{"rendered":"Braves drop two close games to finish fourth at Kokomo"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

RANDY HISNER & DANE FUELLING<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

KOKOMO – Good timing may not be everything, but the lack of it played an outsized role in the Bellmont Braves\u2019 4-3 loss to the Kokomo Wildcats Saturday morning in the semifinals of the Kokomo Softball Tournament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Braves found clutch hits hard to come by, stranding 12 runners, including the potential tying and go-ahead runs in the seventh inning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Wildcats, in contrast, had only eight baserunners but managed to score half of them, assisted by four Bellmont errors. Only one of the runs off Bellmont pitcher Isabelle Buuck was earned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Isabelle Buuck delivers a pitch with shortstop Oni Krueckeberg ready behind her. (Photo by Randy Hisner)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Kokomo scored first when Ava Federspill drove in Lucy Goad with a sacrifice fly to left field in the second inning. Goad had led off with a single, advanced to second when Buuck hit Hattie Tweed with a pitch, and reached third on a passed ball.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Wildcats added two runs to their lead in the fourth. Third baseman Kinley Martin led off with a double. Goad reached on an error by Bellmont third baseman Aaliyah Faurote, Martin holding at second. Tweed laid down a good bunt, but Martin got caught overrunning third. The Braves didn\u2019t make her pay for her mistake. They botched the rundown, allowing her to score. Tweed went to third on the play and then scored on Federspill\u2019s groundout to Buuck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Braves battled back with single runs in the fifth and sixth innings. In the fifth, Emily Bleke led off with a single and went to second on Martin\u2019s throwing error. Finnley Godsey drove Bleke in with a double down the left field line. With Godsey on second and no one out, Kokomo hurler Emma Lees killed the rally by striking out three straight Braves\u2014pinch hitters Ella Franze and Chevelle Oetting and shortstop Oni Krueckeberg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Oni Krueckeberg scrutinizes a pitch. (Photo by Randy Hisner)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In the sixth, Taylor Sutter singled, moved to second on Liz Bobay\u2019s sacrifice bunt, and scored on Carissa Mickley\u2019s double.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What turned out to be the winning run scored in the sixth on a costly misplay by the Braves. Goad walked with one out. Tweed bunted her to second, and when the Braves threw wildly trying to pick off Goad as she rounded the bag, she scampered all the way home to make it 4-2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Bellmont second baseman Finnley Godsey directs her teammates on bunt coverage. (Photo by Randy Hisner)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The resilient Braves weren\u2019t done, though. Taylor Bauer doubled to left to lead off the seventh and scored on Sutter\u2019s one-out single to center. After Bobay popped up to short, Carissa Mickley engaged in a fierce battle with Lees, fouling off five two-strike pitches before finally drawing a walk. That brought up Faurote. She worked Lees to a 3-1 count and then hit a screaming line drive down the first base line. Unfortunately for the Braves, it was right to first baseman Tweed, who grabbed it to end the game. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cWe took a little too long to get fired up,\u201d said Bellmont coach Mindy Buuck. \u201cWe\u2019ve got to find that energy earlier on, rather than waiting till the last inning. But we fought to the very end.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Bellmont coach Mindy Buuck rallies her troops late in the game. (Photo by Randy Hisner)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

She knew that defensive lapses cost the Braves dearly. \u201cIf you look at the scoreboard,\u201d she said, \u201cwe had four errors, and they had four runs. That\u2019s the deciding factor, I think, today.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Isabelle Buuck certainly pitched well enough to deserve a win. She struck out three while yielding only two hits and two walks. In the third inning, she retired the Wildcats in order on only five pitches. Then she did it again in the fifth. \u201cShe threw great,\u201d Coach Buuck said. \u201cIt was great to see her come up and get her first varsity strikeouts.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Bella Ashley tracks down a fly ball near the left field line. (Photo by Randy Hisner)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Lees struck out five. She gave up seven hits and seven walks to the Braves but worked out of jams repeatedly to notch the win. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sutter led the Braves\u2019 offense with three hits. Godsey had a double with two walks, Bleke a single with two walks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BRAVES SETTLE FOR FOURTH WITH LOSS TO WESTFIELD<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dropping into the third-place spot in the bracket, Bellmont squared off against Westfield, starting Taylor Bauer in the circle. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bellmont scored three in the third with a sac fly from Bella Ashley and a couple of groundouts and the Braves took their 3-0 lead into the top of the fifth. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That’s when the Shamrocks took the lead for good, scoring three of their five runs in the frame with two outs. Isabelle Buuck came into the game at pitcher to get the final out of the inning and threw the final two frames, allowing an additional run in each. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Braves played the second game without leadoff hitter Emily Bleke, shuffling the batting order and defensive lineup. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Finnley Godsey reached base three times on a hit and two walks<\/em> in the first game and picked up another hit in the second. (Photo by Randy Hisner)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Bella Ashley and Finnley Godsey each had one hit. They hold the team’s highest batting averages at this point in the season. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Braves face two crucial conference matches in the coming week, beginning with a game against Columbia City Monday and at Norwell Wednesday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

RANDY HISNER & DANE FUELLING WZBD.com KOKOMO – Good timing may not be everything, but the lack of<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25691,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[13,15,40,26],"class_list":["post-25690","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-bellmont","tag-featured","tag-softball","tag-sports"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wzbd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/IMG_4950-scaled.jpeg?fit=2560%2C2092&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25690","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=25690"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25690\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25698,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25690\/revisions\/25698"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25691"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25690"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}