Crusaders win Mount Ayr tourney Saturday

MOUNT AYR – The Holy Trinity Crusaders captured another weekend tournament title over the Father’s Day weekend.
HTC downed Mount Ayr 5-3 and then scored non-conference win over Van Buren County 8-3 to secure the title.
Ellie Hellman gave Sydney Jarvis a breather in the circle going all seven innings in the win over the Raiders. She gave up six hits and just one earned run while striking out four. Holy Trinity put up all five of their runs in the first three innings including three in the second. The Crusaders loaded the bases on a couple Mount Ayr errors. Hellman grounded out to short with no outs, but a couple of throwing errors on the base paths allowed Claire Crabtree, Kara Lake, and Morgan Krogmeier to score on the at-bat. The runs gave HTC a 4-3 lead.

They would add a run in the bottom of the third and then Hellman would secure the win going 1-2-3 in the fourth and fifth. She hit a batter before retiring the side in the sixth and then ended the game with a lineout to center.
In the second game, the Crusaders again got on the board early with runs in each of the first five innings while freshman Madisyn Griffin pitched a solid game giving up just three runs all in the top of the fifth, none of which were earned. Her line was six innings, four hits, four Ks and five walks.
Sydney Jarvis carried the load at the plate going 2-of-3 with five RBI including a 3-run homer in the bottom of the fourth for a 6-0 lead. Kenna Gittings also had a two-hit game.
The Crusaders sit at 4-4 in SEI Super Conference South play, but have lost just one game outside of loop play and sit at 14-5 overall. They travel to Columbus on Monday to start a four-game week. HTC travels to Van Buren on Tuesday and then hosts Hillcrest Academy on Thursday. West Burlington-Notre Dame comes to South Park on Friday to wrap up the week.