STAC SOFTBALL: OWEGO RALLIES TO BEAT FORKS, 7-3 (2024-04-11)

Tioga County Sports Report
OWEGO — Owego surrendered a trio of runs in the top of the first inning, then shut down the Chenango Forks offense to rally for a 7-3 STAC softball victory Thursday.

The River Hawks plated a pair of runs in both the second and third innings to take the lead, then tacked on three insurance runs in the sixth.

Miley Laubach got the Owego scoring started. She singled to lead off the second, advanced to second on an error off the bat of Maia Smith and scored on a Kylie Grippen single to left field.

Courtesy runner Peyton Coolbaugh moved to second on the bunt and third on a RaeAnn Craft hit and scored on a walk to Alex Aubel.

The River Hawks took the lead in the third after Ava Brown reached on an error and scored on a Laubach double, and Laubach scored on a Jill Lewis single.

With one down in the sixth, Aubel singled and Carsten Crawford reached on an error. Then, with two away, Brown smacked a triple to right, scoring Aubel and courtesy runner Joslyn Space for a 6-3 lead.

The final Owego run came on a Laubach single.

The Blue Devils opened the game with three consecutive singles. A steal of home, a sacrifice fly and a groundout accounted for one run each.

Crawford retired seven consecutive batters on two occasions and also retired the final five Forks batters to end the game. She allowed just two hits over the final six innings and struck out 11 batters.

Laubach led an 11-hit attack by going 3-for-4 with a double, two runs and two RBI. Aubel was 2-for-3 with a run and RBI; Lewis was 2-for-3 with an RBI; and Brown chipped in with a triple, two runs and two RBIs.

Also contributing were Grippen with a hit and RBI, Craft and Gaurnier with one hit apiece, and Coolbaugh and Space with one run each.

Owego (3-3) visits Union-Endicott (2-3) Tuesday.