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PREP ROUNDUp

KR knocks off No. 4 Bellefontaine for 17th straight

Kenton Ridge's Adam Eaton got a groundout and a strikeout with the tying runners on base in the seventh inning, securing an 8-6 victory over Bellefontaine in regular-season prep baseball action Thursday at Tom Randall Field.

The Cougars (21-4, 14-1 in the Central Buckeye Conference) won their 17th game in a row and did it by beating the fourth-ranked team in the state in Division II and the fourth-ranked team in the nation, according to the Easton National High School poll.

The Cougars got a big lead with six runs in the third, two of which scored on a single by Tyler Rinker. The Chieftains (19-2, 13-2) rallied with five runs in the final two innings.

The loss prevented Bellefontaine from clinching the CBC Kenton Trail Division title outright. They lead Tipp City by one game with one to play.

In other baseball action:

• Triad pitchers Chris Baker, Chris Kahler and Dustin Alltop combined to one-hit visiting Fairlawn 14-0 in five innings in the first round of the D-IV sectional tournament. The Cardinals (19-9) play at Riverside in the second round Monday.

• Northeastern scored twice in the seventh but left the tying run at second and fell 5-4 to Anna in the first round of the D-III sectional. Anna will meet No. 1 seed West Liberty-Salem on Monday in the second round.

• Anthony Holmes hit a two-RBI double in the first inning as Emmanuel Christian fell to host Franklin Monroe 16-2 in the first D-IV sectional game in school history. The Lions finished their first season at 3-14.

• Jonathon Haller went 2-for-2 and Clayton Wolfe had an RBI groundout, but host Yellow Springs (3-13) was eliminated by Tri-Village 15-1 in five innings in the D-IV Dayton sectional.

• Kyle Trainer threw a two-hit shutout as ninth-seeded Mechanicsburg beat host Troy Christian 7-0 in the D-IV Dayton sectional. The Indians (11-12) play at top-seeded Fort Loramie at 5 p.m. Monday.

Softball

Northeastern's Brittany Heunen walked to lead off the first inning, stole second, got to third on a passed ball and stole home for the host Jets' first run in a 2-1 victory over East Clinton in the first round of the Division III sectional.

Later in the first, a bunt by Erika Estep scored Brittany Snyder as the third-seeded Jets (19-6) took a 2-1 lead.

Northeastern plays Clinton-Massie in the next round on Tuesday.

In other softball action:

• A double by Jessica Collins scored Hannah Heinl with the go-ahead run in the fifth inning, lifting host Tecumseh (6-17) to a 4-2 victory over Stebbins in the first round of the D-I sectional.

On Monday, Tecumseh plays at Northmont in next round.

• Jocelyn Washburn went 2-for-4 and had nine strikeouts and Jessica Smith hit a three-run triple as host Kenton Ridge (18-7, 12-3 CBC) defeated Bellefontaine 6-3 for the 397th victory in coach Ed Foulk's career.

Boys tennis

Urbana clinched at least a share of the Central Buckeye Conference title, blanking visiting Northwestern 5-0.

The Hillclimbers (18-1, 12-0 CBC) can win the title outright for the second straight season by winning one of their final two matches.

With a 14-0 mark in the league last year, Urbana has won 26 CBC matches in a row.

"It's a nice run," coach Brandon Deskins said. "Next year will be a different story. We've got to enjoy it while we can."

At Wednesday's sectional seeding meeting, Brian Dredge and the doubles team of Greg Harvey and Luke Hiltibran received top seeds. The tournament starts May 10.