Memorable Moments #15-#12

#15. April 26: Kelly hits for the cycle
Soon after 6:00 on a 64-degree Monday afternoon, Mikey Kelly stepped to the plate at Bodiker Field and lined the first pitch he saw to center field for a triple. After scoring on a single by James Helmuth, Kelly singled on the second pitch of his next at bat in the following inning and scored again. While the scoring accounted for two runs of Bethany’s 6-0 lead after three frames, the most significant score would be in the fifth. Leading off, Kelly lined a 1-1 pitch from Ryan Seller down the right field foul line for his first home run of the season. In the fifth, he would make the most of his final at bat by ripping a ball into the left-center field gap and stopping at second base with a double. Having recorded all four types of hits in the same game, Kelly turned an otherwise uneventful Monday night game into what is believed to be the first cycle in school history in a 14-4 victory over Valparaiso Victory Christian.
#14. October 3: Boys soccer takes conference title
Playing on their rain-soaked home turf at Bodiker Field, Jesse Ramer and Femi Hollinger-Janzen combined to slip three goals in six minutes past Argos goalkeeper Dylan Colburn. Seth Kauffman added another tally after halftime, and the Bruins held Argos scoreless and claimed their third consecutive Northern Indiana Soccer Conference title with a 4-0 defeat. Argos was runner-up for the third time in six years.
#13. May 22: Softball comes back against ECA
After an inning and a half of the Goshen Invitational consolation game, things were not looking up for the softball team. They mustered one hit in falling 16-0 to the hosts in the first round and trailed Elkhart Christian 5-0. To make matters worse, ECA was the team’s first-round sectional opponent just three days later. Bethany plated single runs in the second and third innings to cut the gap to 5-2. It was then that the floodgates opened, with a seven-run fourth giving way to three and four runs in the next two innings before the game was called in the sixth due to the ten-run mercy rule with the score 16-6 in favor of Bethany. Lauren Hooley finished with three hits and five RBI to lead the Bruins, while Mattie Lehman scattered two hits among six innings on the mound.
#12. December 19: Bruins win holiday tournaments
Low-scoring games and aggressive defense were hallmarks of the final games of the 2009 Bethany Christian Tournament. The girls used none of their usual offensive weapons, as Marla zumFelde missed five of six 3-point attempts and the team was an anemic 5-for-18 from the free throw line. Bethany entered the day with a 13-player roster combining JV and varsity, a shorthandedness that was compounded by a knee injury in the first game that ended one season; in the second quarter, a collision while diving for a loose ball would force the Bruins to play without starter Chris Minter. But trailing 31-25 entering the final quarter, the team outscored Elkhart Christian 15-8 as Eagle forward Natalie Allen sat with four fouls and then fouled out with nearly two minutes remaining; in her absence, the Eagles fell 40-39. Bethany finished with 11 points from zumFelde, nine from Ali Hochstetler and eight from Mandy Schlabach; Natalie Thorne had six to go with nine rebounds.
If the girls’ 40 points seemed low, the boys’ 37 could not be a good thing. But unlike the girls, the boys held Elkhart Christian to only eleven points in a first half that saw Bethany’s Jesse Ramer and ECA’s Sean Addison receive technical fouls on separate incidents from referee Darrell Watson. Addison would leave partway through the second half with an apparent injury. Bruin forwards Seth Kauffman and Hamilton Thorne finished with a combined 22 points and 23 rebounds, anchoring the interior of a defense that held the Eagles to 10 field goals and drew 20 fouls. Bethany’s offense operated from the interior as well, with no three-point shots and only three field goals from shooters smaller than 6’0”. But it was enough for a 37-28 win.
Coming tomorrow: We twist and bend our way through three nail-biting victories, as well as a fourth that wasn’t so close.