•May 18, 2016•

By Matt Kracht
News Progress Sports

On a brisk Saturday four of the area’s best softball teams battled for the top spot in the Sullivan Invitational.

Mt. Zion impressed with a 12-1 win over Cumberland in the tourney opener followed by a 14-4 win over Okaw Valley in the championship.  Sullivan dropped their first game 10-0 to the Lady Timberwolves; then fell against Cumberland 13-8.

Okaw Valley head coach Dave Benning celebrated the 100th win of his career in the first game. Afterwards Benning said he was pleased with the team’s overall performance considering the quality of their opponents. “All in all I am pleased with the effort. We hadn’t played in eight days, and I was really impressed with how our bats came out in these conditions. I am really happy for the girls.”

Okaw Valley relied on a pair of terrific performances offensively to prevail over Sullivan.

Kaylin Boyer and Natalie Jeffers had career days at the plate. Boyer set the tone against Sullivan with a stand up triple on a line drive just over the outstretched hand of the right fielder in the top of the first. Jeffers followed with a single to drive home her first of five RBIs in the contest.       Login or Subscribe to read the rest of this story.