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Tigers triumph

Newton Falls beats LaBrae, 6-1, behind Backherms

Tribune Chronicle / Marc Weems Tara Backherms of Newton Falls tosses the ball to first base in an attempt to retire LaBrae’s Marissa Roberts, right, Wednesday at LaBrae. The Tigers’ Alex Staton (32) watches the play.

LEAVITTSBURG — In a cold, windy softball matchup between the LaBrae Vikings and Newton Falls Tigers, Newton Falls came out with a 6-1 win on the road Tuesday evening.

Newton Falls (2-0) quickly got out to a lead as the Tigers used timely hitting to score a run in both the first and second innings.

Early on, Tiger pitcher Tara Backherms helped herself with an RBI double that scored Alli Sembach to give the Tigers a 1-0 lead.

Backherms pitched a complete game with five strikeouts and no walks to get the win. She gave up just one run on 81 total pitches.

“Just having my defense behind my back the entire time was helping me a lot,” Backherms said of her performance. “I always knew they had my back on every pitch. We’ve worked really hard in the gym these last few weeks since we haven’t been able to play. We knew that it would pay off.”

Tribune Chronicle / Marc Weems Kelli Harrah of Newton Falls makes contact.

Backherms also finished the day 2-for-4 with a run scored and an RBI.

Newton Falls threatened in the third inning as it loaded the bases but LaBrae (1-2) pitcher Desi Allen got out of the jam with a strikeout and groundout.

Both teams held each other off the scoreboard in the fourth and fifth innings as Backherms and Allen got into a little pitching duel.

Newton Falls began to wear the Vikings down a bit in the sixth inning as Arianna Geordan took over on the mound for LaBrae. Allen went five innings while giving up three earned runs with four strikeouts.

An error allowed Taylor Bednarcik to score. Backherms scored on an RBI bunt by Sembach to put the Tigers up 4-0.

Tribune Chronicle / Marc Weems Josie Madison, left, of Newton Falls slides into third Tuesday as Kaitlin Gibson of the Vikings applies the tag.

“I thought Tara did very well. She kept us in the game because she threw a lot of strikes. She did great and that was just what we needed,” Newton Falls coach Luke Darrah said. “We got some timely hits and they (LaBrae) made a few errors and mistakes. We have to catch the balls that come to us. We don’t need to make all-star plays.”

Darrah said that pitching and defense will push Newton Falls further than anything else will.

LaBrae got a run back in the bottom of the sixth as Natalie Sisler drove in Aryana Hartman on a single.

Newton Falls scored two more in the top of the seventh inning as it got the win.

Tribune Chronicle / Marc Weems Kaitlin Gibson, standing, of LaBrae tags out Newton Falls baserunner Madison Haidet Tuesday.

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