L-B edges Van Buren in battle of BVC leaders

L-BENTON 9 VAN BUREN 7 VAN BUREN – Liberty-Benton built a 9-3 lead through five innings, then weathered a late comeback by Van Buren to beat the Black Knights 9-7 on Wednesday in a battle of Blanchard Valley Conference softball front runners. L-B improved to 13-7 overall and 5-1 in BVC games. Van Buren fell to 6-11, 3-2 in the league. Elmwood (15-3, 5-1 BVC) also has just one league loss, but the Royals game at Riverdale on Wednesday was postponed due to wet grounds. Sophie McDaniel, Kylie Modd and Lauren Erdeljac, hitting second, third and fourth in the L-B lineup, were 6-for-10 and drove in five runs. McDaniel (RBI) and Erdeljac (3 RBI) had a single and a double each; Modd had a pair of singles. Taylor Shaw added a two-run single. Van Buren outhit Liberty-Benton 14-9, with Jordan Patton (2-1B), Claire Miller (2-1B), Claire Maag (1B, 2B, 2 RBI), Audrey Riegle (2-1B, RBI) and Haidyn Sattler (1B, 2B, RBI) delivering two hits each. L-Benton 022 320 0—9 9 1 Van Buren 010 203 1—7 14 4 WP—Gerken. LP—Beall. TOP HITTERS: (L-B) McDaniel 1B, 2B, RBI; Modd 2-1B, RBI; Erdeljac 1B, 2B, 3 RBI); Shaw 1B, 2 RBI. (VB) Patton 2-1B; Miller 2-1B; Maag 1B, 2B, 2 RBI; Riegle 2-1B, RBI; Beall 3B; Groman 2B, RBI; DeCooman 1B, 2 RBI; Sattler 1B, 2B, RBI. VANLUE 16 P-GILBOA 14 VANLUE – Vanlue rallied for four runs in the bottom of the sixth inning and held on to beat Pandora-Gilboa 16-14 in a wildly back-and-forth BVC softball battle between the two teams. Vanlue led 9-3 in the third inning, trailed 14-12 after five, then rallied to earn its first BVC win of the season. Madison Brooks drove in four runs with a pair of base hits, Adrienne Phillips had two doubles and two runs-batted-in and Bella Wallen and Alison Brooks added RBI doubles for the Wildcats (5-7, 1-5 BVC). Libby Burkholder led P-G with three base hits. Kelsie Carlson (2-1B) and Alexis Okuley (2B) knocked in two runs each for the Rockets (0-12, 0-6 BVC). P-Gilboa 012 920 0—14 9 2 Vanlue 207 214 x—16 8 6 WP—M. Brooks. LP—Deken. TOP HITTERS: (P-G) Burkholder 3-1B, RBI; Schnipke 1B, RBI; Carlson 2-1B, 2 RBI; Moening 1B, RBI; A. Okuley 2B, 2 RBI. (Van) Phillips 2-2B, 2 RBI; Wallen 2B, RBI; A. Brooks 2b, 2 RBI; M. Brooks 2-1B, 4 RBI; Musgrave 1B, RBI. Baseball L-BENTON 7 VAN BUREN 4 VAN BUREN – Liberty-Benton rallied to tie the game in the top of the seventh inning, then scored three times in the eighth to beat Van Buren 7-4 and hang onto its share of first place in the Blanchard Valley Conference baseball standings. L-B improved to 10-3 overall, 6-0 in the BVC and is tied with Leipsic (10-5, 7-0 BVC) atop the standings. The BVC co-leaders squared off on Monday. Liberty-Benton took an early 5-0 lead in that game, but play was then suspended due to weather. Jackson Knepper played a pivotal role in L-B's win over Van Buren. The junior right-hander went all eight innings, allowing four runs on eight hits and shutting Van Buren down in the seventh and eighth innings. He also rapped two hits and drove in three runs. Kooper Leatherman had a single and a double, and Connor Barbara, Zach Elchert and Taden Troyer (RBI) had two hits each. Grady Latta added an RBI single. Will Rampe tripled, Caleb Mason had a pair of base hits and Brady Lance and Jacob Harrington added RBI singles for Van Buren (11-6, 3-2 BVC). L-Benton 011 000 23—7 12 3 Van Buren 100 012 00—4 8 4 WP—Knepper. LP—Mason. TOP HITTERS: (L-B) Knepper 2-1B, 3 RBI; Latta 1B, RBI; Leatherman 1B, 2B; Barbara 2-1B; Z. Elchert 2-1B; Troyer 2-1B, RBI. (VB) Mason 2-1B; Lance 1B, RBI; Rampe 3B; Harrington 1B, RBI. MCCOMB 8 ARLINGTON 4 MCCOMB – Slow and steady worked for McComb on Wednesday when the Panthers scored at least one run in five straight innings to overcome an early 4-0 deficit to beat Arlington 8-4 in BVC baseball action. Luke Kern doubled in two runs, Cameron Smith belted a solo home run and Jace Wartgow and Brayden Welty had RBI singles. McComb tied Arlington 4-4 with three runs in the bottom of the second inning, then went ahead to stay with a two-run rally in the third. Camden Swain earned the win with 6-1/3 innings of scoreless relief. He allowed just two hits and struck out seven as McComb improved to 7-8 overall, 5-2 in the BVC. Zander Collins doubled in one run and Chayse Simon and Louie Jones added RBI singles in powering Arlington (2-12, 2-4 BVC) to its early 4-0 lead. Arlington 400 000 0—4 5 2 McComb 132 110 x—8 8 0 WP—Swain. LP—Berno. TOP HITTERS: (Arl) Collins 2B, RBI; Simon 1B, RBI; Jones 1B, RBI. (McC) Kern 2B, 2 RBI; Smith HR, RBI; Schroeder 2B; Wartgow 1B, RBI; Welty 1B, 2 RBI; Miller 2-1B, 2 RBI. CAREY 6 S. EAST 2 CAREY – Carey used two three-run rallies to take control of the game, and likely took control of the Northern 10 Conference baseball race as well with Wednesday's 6-2 win over Seneca East. Tuesday's 5-1, 11-inning win over Seneca East broke the first place tie between Carey and Seneca East. Wednesdy's win gave Carey, 15-2, 9-0 in N10 games, a two-game lead over Seneca East (10-3, 7-2) with five league games remaining. Carey capitalized on a couple of Seneca East errors to score three times in the third inning. David Hall's two run double highlighted another three-run rally in the sixth. Local Sports Wednesday's Results PEP TENNIS U. SANDUSKY 6 GALION 0 SINGLES No. 1 – Nick Nieset def. Zach Moneysmith, 7-5, 6-3. No. 2 – Ryan Day def. Will Rinehart, 6-4, 7-5. No. 3 – Gage McWilliams def. Logan Estep, 6-2, 2-6, 6-4. DOUBLES No. 1 – Chandler Elkins/ Lyman Starner def. Stella Volz/Skylar Bucher 6-1, 6-1. No. 1 – Carter Heilman/Graham Wolf def. Ryder Alberty/ Cohen Adams 6-2, 4-6, 10-8. Schedule Thursday's Events BASEBALL Arlington at Carey Ottawa-Glandorf at Liberty-Benton McComb at Cory-Rawson Spencerville at Columbus Grove (NWC) SOFTBALL Waynesfield-Goshen at Arcadia Arlington at Carey McComb at Cory-Rawson Kalida at Ottawa-Glandorf (WBL) BOYS LACROSSE Findlay at Anthony Wayne PREP TRACK Upper Scioto Valley Invitational