Sports Round-Up by Paul Beitler

Squaws nip Bluffton netters
The Bellmont Squaws edged Bluffton 3-2 in the conclusion of their girls’ tennis match Wednesday that was rescheduled because of rain on Monday.
Bellmont’s Allison Gutierrez battled the Tigers’ Kara Fiechter for a three-set win in No. 1 singles, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4.
Bluffton won the other two singles matches. Amy Baker defeated Maddi Werling 6-3, 6-2 in the No. 2 match, while Megan Evans beat Alysha Helmrich 7-5, 6-1 in the No. 3 contest.
The Squaws swept the doubles matches. Brittany Sanders and Madeline Albert beat Samantha Drew and Annessa Reiff 6-1, 6-4. Abby Stimpson and Emily Koeneman defeated Mykayla Rodenbeck and Allison Williams 6-3, 6-3.
In the junior varsity match, Bellmont won 8-0.

JUNIOR VARSITY SINGLES: Katelyn Roe (Bell) d. Amanda Stone 4-2, 4-1; Hannah Endorf (Bell) d. Ivy Filhart 2-4, 4-2, 4-2; Rachel Baumgartner (Bell) d. Taylor Dove 4-0, 4-2; Taya Adams (Bell) d. Ivy Filhart by forfeit*; Andrea Chronister (Bell) d. Alyssa Thompson 4-0, 4-0; Shelby Kiess (Bell) d. Alyssa Thompson 4-1, 4-1.
JUNIOR VARSITY DOUBLES: Andrea Fruchte/Aubrey Sanders (Bell) d. Hunter Cunningham/Jenae Steffen 4-2, 6-4; Andrea Chronister/Madison Brite (Bell) d. Alyssa Thompson/Mirna Villeda by forfeit*.
(*Both matches were forfeited, because the match was postponed Monday by rain and participants could not be present Wednesday.)

Norwell girls split
track three-way
The Norwell girls’ track team came away with a split in a three-way meet against Northeast Hoosier Conference foes on Tuesday at Fort Wayne.
Norwell edged New Haven 42-40, while the hosting Homestead Spartans dominated the meet with 10 first-place finishes for 85 points.
Halle Sweet and Amanda McAfee led Norwell with first-place finishes. Sweet won the 800 meters in 2:37.5 and McAfee won the shot put with a throw of 32 feet, 10.5 inches.
McAfee also was second in the discus (96-4) and pole vaulter Emily Gresley was second (9-6).
The Knights’ 4x100-meter relay team was second in 51.4 seconds, which is 1.2 seconds faster than last week. The 4x800 was second in 10:46.9 and the 4x400 was second in 4:27.1.

Norwell girls fall
at East Noble 3-2
East Noble scored a run in the fifth inning to defeat the Norwell Knights 3-2 in girls’ Northeast Hoosier Conference softball Wednesday at Kendallville.
Rachel Fulk and Alison Lang doubled for East Noble, which had seven hits off losing pitcher Kayla Hanni.
Hanni singled and drove in a run for Norwell, which had eight hits. Heather Sterrett had two hits and an RBI. Kelsey Kline also had two hits. Jaylyn Kremer, Ashley Koehlinger and Katelyn Carney each singled.

East Noble tops
Norwell jayvees
The Norwell junior varsity softball team out hit East Noble Wednesday but got beat on the scoreboard 16-3 at Norwell.
Andi Miller and Raven Pearson each had two of Norwell’s seven hits. Mariah Hoger, Brittany Caldwell and Heather Miller had the other singles. Miller scored two runs and Pearson one. Caldwell and Miller each had a stolen base. Chelsea Rice (0-8) was the losing pitcher. The Knights fell to 0-10.

Crusaders third
at New Haven
The Norwell Middle School boys’ track team placed third on Saturday in the New Haven Invitational.
Woodside won the meet with 110 points, followed by New Haven with 67 and Norwell with 60. The Crusaders defeated Summit, Maple Creek, Heritage and Prince Chapman.
Piercen Harnish won the discus (140 feet, 6 inches) and shot put (44 feet, 4 inches).
Brent Bales was third in the 1600-meter run (4:58.44) and third in the 800-meter run (2:20.4). Will Gerber was third in the 110-meter hurdles (17.4), Reid Jutte fourth in the hurdles (17.7), Nathan Allison fourth in the discus (105- 1), Jay-Ar Kobryn fifth in the long jump (15-1), Joseph Becker sixth in the pole vault (6-6), Nathan Garver seventh in the 1600 (5:32.1) and Andrew Oakes seventh in the shot put (33-4.5). The 4x100 relay (Isaac Delgado, Jutte, Brody Myers, Kobryn) and 4x400 relay (Gerber, Bales, Garver, Oakes) recorded fifth-place finishes.