The #4 ranked Delphi Lady Oracles finished week five of the season with three victories, two over strong competition, last week.

Vs. Southmont

The 14-2 Southmont Lady Mounties were led by a top pitcher, Jami Addler, who carries a 0.71 ERA. The Oracles came away with a 2-0 victory but only collected two hits. The two hits were executed following mistakes by Addler - a walk and a hit batter. The Oracles capitalized on the two mistakes to take the victory.

The Mounties' first mistake of the game was hitting Oracle lead off batter Whitney Arion on the first pitch of the game. Arion was able to steal second and third bases before being driven home by freshman center fielder Caitlin Schock. The final run of the game came in the second inning as third baseman Carli Rouhier was walked by Addler on four pitches. Rouhier stole second base and was driven home by senior pitcher Brittney Atwood.

Atwood got the victory on the mound her twelfth win of the season. Atwood pitched the first four innings giving up 2 hits and striking out six. Schock assumed the mound in the fifth and gave up two hits and collecting seven strikeouts.

At North White

The next evening the Lady Oracles traveled to Monon to take on the Lady Vikings, coming away with a 10-0 shut out. Atwood got the victory again, throwing a two hitter and throwing 11 strike outs. The Lady Oracle bats were active as all but one of the Oracle starters collected base hits, a total of 15 for the evening. All but one of the starters had RBIs on the evening with Brittney Rhodes having two. The Lady Oracles were led by sophomore shortstop Arion who was 5 for 5 and had two doubles and a triple.

The Oracles scored three runs in the first but managed only one run per inning until the seventh when the collected runs numbered nine and ten. The Oracles' speed was apparent as they collected seven stolen bases, three by Rouhier, one each by Arion, Rhodes, Chanler Norman, and Jordyn Bieghler.

The Lady Oracles were able to rest Wednesday night as their game at Winamac was rained out. At this time, it appears the game will not be rescheduled.

Vs. Frontier

The rain stopped and the sun broke out enabling the Oracles to host the Lady Falcons of Frontier. The game was attended by a large crowd of both Oracle and Falcon fans who all came anticipating a close, hard fought game. Frontier came into the game ranked 12th in Class A, led by one of the top pitchers in the area, senior Kelsey Mullin. The Lady Falcons found themselves shut out by the Oracles 8-0, the 15th shut out of the year for the Oracles.

Atwood got her third victory of the week, striking out six Falcon batters. Atwood was backed up by a good defensive showing by the other eight Oracles. Senior catcher Leslie Kayser fired up the Oracles and their crowd by throwing out the first batter of the game. The Falcon base runner had reached first on a little dribbler to the infield. The Falcon runner attempted to steal second but Kayser and shortstop Arion teamed up to send her back to the bench. The Oracle defense did not allow another base runner until the fourth inning but the next batter grounded out to end the inning. One Falcon base runner was stranded in the fifth inning as the next two batters were put out.

The sixth inning had one of the most exciting (for Oracle fans) plays one could imagine. The lead off batter for the Falcons, Galligher, got on with a base hit up the center. Galligher was then moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by the next batter for the first out of the inning.

The next batter, starting batter Kelsey Mullin, drove a double to left field. Left fielder Danni Burge picked up the ball by the outfield fence and relayed it to shortstop Arion who threw Galligher out at home. Catcher Leslie Kayser, in a heads up play, caught Mullin trying to stretch her double into a triple. Kayser fired the ball back to Arion who ran Mullin back toward second, flipped the ball to second baseman Schock for the third out of the inning.

The Oracles had eight hits spread among 7 batters - Arion getting two hits, one a double. Arion, Schock, Burge, Rhodes and Aspen Wallace all had RBIs. Rhodes also had two stolen bases.

The Lady Oracles completed games at Northwestern on Monday night and hosted the Clinton Prairie Lady Gophers on Tuesday night. Saturday they travel to Indianapolis to play in a 4-team tourney with host Cardinal Ritter, Frontier, and Lawrence Central. The Oracles are matched with Frontier in the first game in the morning.

Sectional pairings were announced Thursday with Carroll hosting (see schedule in Scoreboard, page 2B). The winner of the Sectional will play in the Regional hosted by Eastern of Howard County on June 6.