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Bella Jacobs pitches Sycamore softball past Ottawa, to Interstate 8 title

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Bella Jacobs pitches Sycamore softball past Ottawa, to Interstate 8 title

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Sycamore senior pitcher Bella Jacobs, despite a blister on the thumb of her pitching hand, fired a four-hit shutout with 11 strikeouts against Ottawa at Peck Park on Tuesday to help the Spartans clinch the outright Interstate

Bella Jacobs pitches Sycamore softball past Ottawa, to Interstate 8 title

After walking her second batter during the third inning Tuesday, Sycamore senior pitcher Bella Jacobs called timeout and asked for a band-aid for a blister on the thumb of her pitching hand.“It’s something I’ve had to deal with in the past,” Jacobs said. “It was making it tough to not only get a good grip on the ball, but also release it the way I need and want to. I tried a band-aid, but it just didn’t work. The pain wasn’t bad; it was just annoying.”While finishing the game with four walks, Jacobs battled through the adversity, holding host Ottawa to just four hits and striking out 11 in a 2-0 softball victory at Peck Park on Ottawa’s south side.The triumph clinched the outright Interstate 8 Conference title for Sycamore (18-4, 8-1). The Pirates (15-7, 5-3) had a six-game win streak snapped.“When (blisters) happen, I just have to find a way around it,” Jacobs said. “I have two different windups, so when this happens and I have trouble finding my release point, I switch things up.“I wasn’t 100% today, but I feel like I’m good about pushing through on days like today.”The game was resumed after Monday’s storms suspended play in the top of the first with the Spartans having the bases loaded and no outs. Upon the game’s resumption Tuesday, Ottawa pitcher Addie Russell retired the visitors in order with no runs scoring.Sycamore did, however, score two runs in the second thanks to a trio of Pirates fielding miscues, a walk and a wild pitch.“There are days where you just have to gut it out and find a way,” Sycamore coach Jill Carpenter said. “It doesn’t have to be pretty. You just have to have more runs than the other team when it’s all said and done. “I thought we hit some balls hard, but we just didn’t do that when we needed to. The first inning was a momentum killer right at the start. But the key was we didn’t allow Ottawa to score in the bottom of the inning, and the top of the second just felt like the start of a new game.”Ottawa best threat came in the fourth when Rylee Harsted led off with a single to center field, and after a foul out, Reese Purcell walked. Both runners moved up a base on a wild pitch, but Jacobs was able to wiggle out of trouble with back-to-back strikeouts.“Bella finds, and has for four years, a way to pitch around adversity,” Carpenter said. “With the blister on her thumb, she had to make some adjustments, and she did. She was really good today despite the situation.”Ottawa brought the tying run to the plate in the bottom of the seventh. Teagan Darif tripled to the fence in right-center with two outs, but Jacobs finished things off by inducing a fly out to left.Addison Armstrong, Kairi Lantz, Faith Heil and Callie Countryman all singled for Sycamore.Piper Lewis and Joslyn Rose recorded hits, along with Darif and Harsted for Ottawa.Russell suffered the tough-luck loss, scattering four hits with no earned runs while walking one and striking out five. “This was very similar to our first game where both teams had the same amount of hits, but we just weren’t able to put anything really together,” Ottawa coach Adam Lewis said. “I thought Addie threw the ball well today. It’s funny that her strength of getting misfits and off-the-end-of-the-bat contact can sometimes lead to unfortunate hits or misplayed balls. We had a couple of those in the third inning, and we just have to do a better job of attacking the ball defensively instead of letting it eat us up in those situations.” Both teams are right back in action on Wednesday, with Sycamore hosting Morris. Ottawa travels to take on Rochelle.

Bella Jacobs pitches Sycamore softball past Ottawa, to Interstate 8 title

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Bella Jacobs pitches Sycamore softball past Ottawa, to Interstate 8 title

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Bella Jacobs pitches Sycamore softball past Ottawa, to Interstate 8 title

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Bella Jacobs pitches Sycamore softball past Ottawa, to Interstate 8 title

b3wkvj7ma5emjcmusdgtxbm4xy

Newman uses ‘Comets baseball’ for win at Princeton

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Newman uses ‘Comets baseball’ for win at Princeton

The Newman Comets strive to do three things well every time they step onto the ball diamond - hit, pitch and play good defense.They did all three en route to a 9-1 win at Princeton in a Three Rivers East tussle at Prather Field.“Our three things is nothing fancy ... throw strikes, make plays and put the ball in play. In high school baseball, you do that, you’re going to win a lot of games,” Newman coach Kenny Koerner said.The Comets have won a lot of games this season, improving to 19-1 overall, 8-0 in the TRAC East with two games with Kewanee remaining on Thursday, including the resumption of a game they lead 8-1 in the sixth inning.“It was a great win. A conference win. Going to help in the postseason with rankings and all of that. I’m proud of us,” winning pitcher Evan Bushman said.Newman’s Michael Morris had a two-run single and Liam Nicklaus added a three-run double to break the game open in the sixth. That was more than enough for Bushman, the Comets ace, who went the distance, scattering three hits for the win.“We know (Bushman is) going to throw strikes and make them put it in play. And so we just know we’re going to have to work and he’s not going to give them any good ones,” Nicklaus said.“Evan did really well on the mound. Threw strikes. That’s the key for us. Throw strikes and make plays. Thought we did a nice job of that,” Koerner said.The Tigers (7-11, 5-3) didn’t do themselves any favors, committing six errors in the game, leading to seven unearned runs.“I thought our guys on the mound did a good job of throwing strikes and didn’t give up a lot of hard contact. We need to back them up better than we did tonight,” Tiger coach Patrick Smith said.Nicklaus put the game out of reach with his bases-clearing double to right in the sixth following singles by Drake Cole and Garret Matznick to put the Comets up 8-0.“I mean, 3-2, I was just looking for a fastball and got it,“ Nicklaus said.“I don’t really doubt anyone in our lineup. Everybody can hit. I’m confident with everybody. Everyone does their part,” Bushman said.Two Tiger errors led to another Newman run in the seventh.Princeton got on the board when Braden Shaw was hit by a pitch and raced around to score on a double to center fielder by Jack Oester.Morse made his way to second on a throwing error to lead off the second, went to third on a single by Jameson Hanlon and scored on Garet Wolfe’s sac fly to right. Hanlon scored on Bushman’s groundout to first.Newman scored three runs on two hits and the help of three Tiger errors in the third. Minor doubled ahead of Morse’s two-run single to right to make it 5-0.Matznick and Hanlon led the Comets with two hits each.Tiger starter Ryan Jagers took the loss, scattering five hits and a walk while allowing five runs, three of which were unearned. Hayden Sayler pitched three innings, giving up three hits and three runs (none earned) with Abe Longeville following up with one scoreless inning in relief.After three straight state tournament appearances, the last two in 2A, the Comets have been bumped up to 3A this season due to the multiplier and success factor. They’re up for the challenge.“If we continue to play how we’ve been playing and winning games, we should be a pretty high seed for regionals and that’ll give us a lot of confidence and we’ll see how far we can take it,” Nicklaus said.“I think we can go as far as we want. It’s just a matter of making plays, putting the ball in play and just having confidence in ourselves,” Bushman said.

Newman uses ‘Comets baseball’ for win at Princeton

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