Church softball nears end

As the regular season in the Warren County Church Softball league draws to a close and teams are jockeying for tournament position, Temple flexed its offensive muscles Tuesday night, downing Friendship in a 32-25 slugfest.

Zach Pelham led the way in helping Temple to its sixth win of the summer, finishing 4-for-5 with a pair of home runs. Dean Blankenship also homered on a three-hit night, and Mark Hitchcock came away with five hits.

Brandon McGee and Jacob Dunn both turned in four-hit games, while Wes Williams, Rob Williams, Ben Cantrell and Terry Taylor added three apiece.

Temple did its damage early, sending 17 batters to the plate in the top of the first and posting 13 runs.

Friendship’s Kyle Thompson had a pair of homers and went 4-for-5 at the plate, while Travis Barnes had five hits in the leadoff spot. Tim Gillespie added four more, while Brandon Locke, David Talley, Jonathan Denton, Smiley King, Jeff Smith and Adam Anderson had three apiece.

In other men’s games:

Central 12,

Biblebeaters 10

Central posted five runs in the fifth and five more in the sixth to rally past the Biblebeaters, who scored eight of their 10 runs in the top of the fifth inning.

Todd Dunn homered for the winning cause, finishing with three hits as did Todd Gilley, Steve Swann and Timmy Bryant. The Biblebeaters’ Tony Pelham had three hits.

Morrison 18, Central 13

Steve Elam homered to highlight a seven-run sixth inning for Morrison, who also got a home run from Ryan Williams and four hits from Cody Adcock.

Central’s Todd Gilley and Timmy Bryant both went 4-for-4, with Gilley connecting for a homer in the first inning.

North Hills 21,

Locust St. 11

Locust Street took a pair of losses Tuesday night, beginning with a 10-run defeat at the hands of North Hills, which benefited from a four-hit game from Kyle Fisher, including a homer, and four more hits from Victor Roller. Dustin Cherry was 3-for-4, including an inside-the-park home run.

Locust Street’s Ricky Talbert and Chris Hennessee had three hits apiece.

Hebron 13, Locust St. 7

Hebron improved its first-place record to 8-2, breaking open a 7-7 tie with a six-run fifth. Jody Denny went 4-for-4 in the win, while Nick Cantrell, Barry Taylor, Steve Sliger and Richard Boyd all had three hits.

Barry Hastings, Bobby Christian, Bryan Merritt, Ricky Talbert, Ronnie Talbert, Coty Grissom and Casey Talbert had two hits apiece for Locust Street.

WOMEN’S DIVISION

With first place and the top seed for the championship tournament already locked up, New Bybees team in the women’s division of the church softball league showed why they’re undefeated Tuesday night, taking a 25-8 win over Bethel Hill/Smartt to improve to 10-0 on the year.

Every member of the New Bybees lineup had at least one hit, and the team batted around in the second inning, sending 17 batters to the plate to take a 12-5 lead after Bethel Hill had plated five in the bottom of the first.

Sina Neal, Kati Sutton, Lonnette Mullican and Erica Moore all had four hits, while Lacey Griffith, Amber Hodge and Talekia King helped the New Bybees cause with three apiece.

Bethel Hill/Smartt was held to just one run over the final three innings, and was led by Kirby Broom, Barbra Damon, Kristie Boyd, Tonya Swann, Sandy Tessneau, Kasey Owens and Kaci Lupo, who had two hits each.

In Tuesday’s other women’s games:

Church Ladies 15, Covenant 5

Lindsey Helton and Whitney Garibaldi both had inside-the-park homers to help their team to victory, with Helton finishing 4-for-4 at the plate. Leslie Hollis and Casey Wright added three hits each.

Covenant’s Anna Morgan had a first-inning homer, and finished with two hits along with Donna Gross, Lauren Zechman and Nina Smith.

Locust St. 8,

Madison St. 7, 8 inn.

A game that needed extra innings to settle ended on a bizarre note, with Locust Street’s defense turning a triple play to end any thoughts of a Madison Street comeback.

After Shannon Hamilton drew a bases-loaded walk to pull her team within a run, Lori Judkins flew out to the Locust Street shortstop. Liz Beard was caught off second, and Rena Tate was tagged out at home to end the game.

Liz Hoch and Kassidy Kominos had three hits each to lead the way for Locust Street, while Beard finished a perfect 4-for-4 at the plate for Madison Street. Emily Winfree, Kelly Smartt and Brandy Bottoms added three hits apiece.