Weather that saw rain quieting the SVC ball diamonds earlier in the week, brightened at week's end as the SVC schedule picked up with a fury, with less than one week remaining in conference play.
In softball, the Lady Mustangs of Westfall clinched a share of their second straight softball crown with a 13-3 win over Huntington in 6 innings. Westfall banged out 18 hits for the game with six players collecting two each. That included Emily Robinson, who also got the win on the mound.
The Scarlet and Gray scored five runs in each of the third and fourth innings, adding two in the fifth and one in the sixth.
The win propels Westfall to an (11-0) conference record with only three to play.
Unioto and Huntington both stand at (8-3). Westfall can win the title outright, Friday with a win at Piketon.
Piketon's Cam Alexander fired a "perfect game" in the Lady Redstreaks 11-0 win over Southeastern. Unioto blasted Paint Valley 17-6 and Zane Trace Lady Pioneers downed Adena 7-2 in other action.
In SVC Baseball, Thursday makeup games opened with both Zane Trace and Unioto tied for the conference lead, with their rematch game looming on the horizon for Monday, April 30th.
When the dust settled Thursday, starting pitcher J.D. Blevins led Unioto's 4-1 win over Paint Valley, while Adena was toppling co-leader Zane Trace by a 4-3 score in Frankfort. ZT's loss puts the Shermans alone at the top of the standings.
Warriors freshman Sean Wheeler pitched 6.2 innings, yielding 3 earned runs, which was good enough to run his record to (3-0) on the season. Adena's Nate Throckmorton got the save in relief.
Adena drew first blood with a run in the bottom of the first, with the Pioneers countering with 3 runs in the top of the second inning. The Warriors evened the score at 3-3 with a two-spot in the bottom half of the fifth.
The score remained 3-3 until the home 6th, when Adena scored one run, then held-on in the top of the 7th for the victory.
Adena's Caleb Foglesong, Ethan Kunkle and Nate Throckmorton each had two hits. The Pioneers had 13 hits, despite the loss.
Elsewhere in the SVC, Westfall edged Huntington 3-2 and Southeastern out-slugged Piketon 7-3 late in their night game at VA Memorial Stadium.
All teams are vying for as many wins as possible, with midnight Friday being the timeline for coaches to post their tournament seed votes for this weekend.