SOFTBALL
Greencastle-Antrim 5, Big Spring 1: Kiersten Swain fired a 4-hit complete game and the Blue Devils picked up an important win on the road over the Bulldogs on Friday afternoon.

Zhen Reuter

Swain (4-0) gave up an earned run, walked 2 and struck out 6. Of her 106 pitches, 71 were for strikes.

The win enabled Greencastle (11-3, 9-2 MPC) to keep pace with Northern for first place in the Colonial.

G-A scored 3 times in the second inning to take control of the game. Makayla Jerin led off with a walk, and one out later, Annika Gaus singled. A passed ball moved the runners up and Bailey Leckron delivered a clutch two-run base hit. She eventually scored on a single by Zhen Reuter.

With two outs in the fifth, Caroline Logsdon singled, stole second, and scored on a hit by Meadow Gambacurta. The Blue Devils’ final run scored in the seventh when Reuter singled, moved to third on a stolen base and a hit batter and came home on Gaus’ base hit.

Reuter and Gaus both ended up with 2-for-4 efforts.

BASEBALL
Greencastle-Antrim 5, Big Spring 0: The Blue Devils put themselves back in the hunt for a District 3 playoff berth with a Mid Penn Colonial victory at home on Friday afternoon over the Bulldogs.

Ryan Farrow

Two straight wins have moved G-A (8-7, 5-6 MPC) up to No. 17 in the Class 5A power rankings and the top 16 teams qualify for the tournament.

Left-hander Ryder Linn made his varsity debut for Greencastle and earned the win. Linn tossed 5.2 innings, allowing 7 hits, no runs, walking 3 and fanning 4. Reliever Carter McCauley got out of a bases-loaded situation in the sixth and collected a save.

“We called (Linn) up because we had that game where we walked everybody and he was throwing strikes (in JV games),” Greencastle coach Eric Shaner said. “We thought he could handle it, and he was a nice change of pace. His repertoire is something you don’t always see and he kept dealing.”

The Blue Devils led only 1-0 over Big Spring (7-10) until a four-run uprising in the bottom of the fifth inning.

McCauley started it with a single, Ryan Farrow was safe on an error while trying to bunt and Parker Funk drove in the first run with a base hit. Avery Horst then doubled in a run and, on an overthrow, the third run scored and Horst wound up on third base. Garrett Decker’s RBI single then produced an insurance run.

Horst and Decker were each 2-for-3 with a a run and an RBI.