Roundup: baseball, softball, WBL track

Van Wert independent sports

Baseball

Van Wert 7 Heritage (IN) 3

In a non-conference tune-up before the final two Western Buckeye League games of the season, Van Wert topped Heritage 7-3 at Smiley Park on Wednesday.

Three Cougar pitchers teamed up to strike out 10 Patriot batters. Ethan Rupert struck out three in 2 1/3 innings, then Luke Wessell fanned six over the next four innings. Adian Pratt pitched the remaining 2/3 of an inning and struck out one batter.

At the plate, Turner Witten had two hits and two RBIs and Ries Wise had a third inning RBI double that scored Wessell and Pratt. Owen Treece also had a hit and an RBI for Van Wert (19-4).

The Cougars led 1-0 on a first inning sacrifice fly that scored TJ Stoller. Van Wert added three runs in the third and three more in the fourth for a 7-0 lead. Heritage scored runs in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings.

Van Wert will host St. Marys Memorial on Friday then will travel to Kenton on Saturday. If the Cougars win both games, they’ll share the WBL championship with Defiance.

Softball

St. Marys Memorial 9 Van Wert 1

ST. MARYS — Van Wert fell behind early and couldn’t recover in a 9-1 loss to St. Marys Memorial on Wednesday.

After a scoreless first inning, the Roughriders scored five runs in the second, then added a pair of runs in the fourth and two more in the sixth inning.

Van Wert’s lone run came in the third inning when Lorynn German singled home Carlee Young. German, Young and Brenna Bollenbacher had Van Wert’s three hits in the game.

The Lady Cougars (3-17, 2-6 WBL) will host Kenton today.

WBL track

LIMA — After the first day of the Western Buckeye League meet, Van Wert holds a slim lead for first over host Shawnee, 28-26, while the Lady Cougars are tied for third with Kenton.

The boys’ 4×800 relay team (Gage Wannamacher, Trey Laudick, Gage Springer, Hunter Sherer) took first place with a time of 8:17.44, while Dru Johnson and Ethan Brown finished 1-2 in the long jump finals.

The girls’ 4×800 relay team (Kyra Welch, Tyra McClain, Carly Smith, Saylor Wise) finished second with a time of 9:57.88.

Action will resume Friday at Shawnee High School.