(April 30th, 2015) – STRYKER: Falling behind early in the contest, it took Pettisville until the fourth inning to battle back against the hosting Lady Panthers of Stryker, tying the game. The Blackbird girls continued their rally in the final three innings, earning a hard fought road victory against their Buckeye Border Conference foe.
Pettisville bested the girls of Stryker 12-6.
The Blackbirds came out swinging, knocking in a pair of runs in the top of the first. Stryker was quick to react, however, racking up 3 runs of their own in the bottom half of the inning. A scoreless second inning allowed the hometown girls to maintain their advantage, which they expanded upon with a 2 run effort in the bottom of the third. In the top of the fourth, the visitors from Fulton County tacked 3 more runs onto their total, bringing them into a 5-5 tie with the Panthers heading into the fifth inning.
Riding that momentum, Pettisville added another 4 runs to their portion of the scoreboard, overtaking Stryker for the lead. Though the Panthers were able to score another run in rebuttal, they couldn’t match the barrage of offense the Blackbirds threw at them in the final innings. Putting up 2 more runs in the sixth, and 1 more in the seventh, their guests held them scoreless in that same span, assuring the 6 run victory for Pettisville.
It was Jaelyn Rufenacht who led the Pettisville bats. The junior hit for 2 doubles as she earned 3 RBIs along the way. Sophomore teammate Teagan Kauffman drove in 2 RBIs with a single and a double. Fellow second year Blackbird Jasmyn Barton added an RBI as she hit 4 singles.
Sierra Walters gave the Lady Panthers a boost offensively with a 2 RBI double. Another Stryker hitter, Kaitlin Wonders, brought in an RBI while hitting for a pair of singles. Teammate Emily Cadwell earned 1 RBI off of a single as well.
Pitching duties for Pettisville was split between Kauffman and freshman Kyra Behnfeldt. The former remained on the mound for 3.1 innings, allowing 5 earned runs from 6 hits. The latter finished the final 3.2 innings of play, giving up just 1 earned run on 3 hits. Behnfeldt also struck out 5 Panther batters, walking 2 more while securing the win.
Miranda Maynard lasted all seven innings from the mound for Stryker. A sophomore, Maynard gave up 9 runs off of 12 hits. She also earned 4 strikeouts and walked 3 Blackbird batters in the loss.