DELPHOS — Jefferson’s Shauna Bowers and Spencerville’s Haley Keller are two of the premiere pitchers in the area in girls fast-pitch softball.

They lived up to their billing on a gorgeous Monday afternoon at Lady Wildcat Field in Delphos.

Bowers (2-3) got a little bit more help as the Lady Jeffcats bounced the Bearcats 3-1 in Northwest Conference action.

“Shauna’s been throwing pretty well all year. She has her brief moments at times when she gets a little wild but that just keeps the batters on their toes,” Jefferson coach Brad Rostorfer began. “She did an excellent job tonight and the defense played well behind her. They made the plays you have to make in softball to do well.”

Bowers (7 innings, 4 hits, 1 unearned run, 9 strikeouts) was not wild at all this night; of her 86 pitches, 68 were for strikes.

For Lady Bearcat coach Jim Kuhn, it was the same old story.

“We just couldn’t get an offense going. We hit the ball, just not very hard,” he explained. “That has been a problem all season. Granted, we faced a good pitcher but we couldn’t string anything together; they did.”

Like in the home half of the first. With two down, Bowers walked against Keller (1-5; 6 innings, 2 hits, 3 runs, 2 earned, 3 walks, 7 Ks; 99 pitches, 63 strikes. Courtesy runner Paige Ricker stole second. Megan Moreo lined a single to right; an error on the play allowed Ricker to touch home for a 1-0 lead.

The Bearcats tried to answer in the second frame. With one gone, Alison Moeller singled to right center. Brooke Moeller’s sacrifice worked; an error allowed her to stay on first. An out later, they both stole the next base but a strikeout ended the threat.

Audrey Hobbs beat out an infield hit with one down in the Bearcat (2-8, 0-4 NWC) third but was left stranded.

Jefferson “broke” it open in the third. Bowers led it off with a base-on-balls. P. Ricker stole second. An out later, a wild pitch put her at third. Jenna Miller walked and proceeded to swipe second. Alexis Ricker bounced to short and P. Ricker beat the throw home, leaving runners at the corners. Brittany Garza bounced out to short to plate Miller for that 3-0 edge.

A double play turned by the hosts (2-5, 2-1 NWC) in the sixth thwarted another Bearcat chance.

Bowers doubled to left center to commence the home sixth but was left there.

The Bearcats got on the board in the seventh. With two gone, Brooke Moeller doubled to left. Brittani Miller got aboard on a throwing error, scoring Moeller. A wild toss got Miller to second but a final strikeout finished the night.

“We were aggressive on the bases; that’s one way to make things happen. We couldn’t do that earlier in the season because we weren’t getting on base,” Rostorfer added. “We got enough going against Keller; she did a good job, too. We’re making a lot of progress; our young girls are getting better and better.”

For Kuhn, it’s a matter of not giving away anything.

“Haley walked three batters; all three scored. They made it happen,” Kuhn added. “They got steals and either a base hit or ground balls to get runs. Positively, we only had one error; we didn’t have that bad defensive inning that we have had all year.”

Both teams are at home tonight: Jefferson versus Fort Recovery and Spencerville against Kalida.