Apr 10, 2026 By Jerin Steele 4 min read

JEFFERSON – Addy Larkin’s line drive that fell into shallow right field in the bottom of the eighth inning and drove in the winning run ended a couple of long streaks.

It was the first time that Jefferson-Morgan had beaten Carmichaels in a dozen years and ended the Mikes’ 21-game winning streak in section play.

Larkin’s two-out single scored Brelynn Wood and gave the Rockets a 2-1 victory over Carmichaels Friday in a Class A Section 2 softball game.

With two outs she laced a pitch that landed in front of Mikes’ right fielder Avery Voithofer. Wood, who was the courtesy runner for Emilee Bazzoli, scored easily from second base.

It was Larkin’s first hit of the day off Carmichaels pitcher Bailey Barnyak.

“It just feels good to finally beat them,” Larkin said. “Our defense was solid and we were hyped from the start. We were ready to win today.”

The last time the Rockets beat Carmichaels was in 2014, a 3-1 win at Jefferson-Morgan.

Longtime Rockets coach Richard Rush could recall details of that game and will gladly do so about Friday’s win as well.

“I still remember that whole game,” Rush said. “This one here … I’ll remember for a long time.”

Carmichaels had not lost a section game since falling to Chartiers-Houston 6-5 on April 19, 2024.

Prior to Larkin’s walk-off hit, Bazzoli had singled up the middle with one out.

Bazzoli also homered earlier in the game.

The game was played in blustery conditions with the win blowing straight out into the outfield.

That might have signaled to some that it would be a high-scoring affair, but both pitchers, Bazzoli and Barnyak, were outstanding.

Barnyak had 13 strikeouts and one walk over 7.2 innings. She allowed two earned runs on seven hits. Bazzoli did not allow an earned run and struck out 10 with three walks and three hits over eight innings.

Bazzoli admitted she felt some nerves, but didn’t show it when she was in the circle.

“Honestly, it was pretty difficult to stay calm, but as the pitcher you have to stay calm,” Bazzoli said. “If you’re not then everyone else is going to get too excited. I just realized that if we want to win this game I had to keep myself together.”

The game was scoreless until the bottom of the fourth when Bazzoli smacked a two-strike pitch over the centerfield fence. The wind was howling during her at-bat and she was able to lift the ball up into it and it carried out of the park.

“At first, I swung at a really high pitch, and I just told myself to be ready for her to bring it down into the zone,” Bazzoli said. “She brought it in the zone and I was like ‘this is my pitch’ and it ended up just going over the fence.”

Carmichaels tied the game in the top of the fifth but were left wanting more because of a baserunning mistake.

Lily Sisler scored on a throwing error for the Mikes’ run. Sisler pinch ran for Sydney Miller, who led off the inning with a single.

Voithofer walked and Ke’Lani Chun was at second after the throwing error, giving the Mikes two runners in scoring position for Barnyak.

Barnyak lifted a ball into left field that was caught by Jefferson-Morgan’s Robi Finley. Voithofer ran home, but she left third base prior to the ball being caught.

Jefferson-Morgan appealed to third base and Voithofer was called out, which ended the inning.

“That one was my fault,” Carmichaels coach Dave Briggs said. “(Finley) kind of fooled me with her body language. I thought it was going to drop, and all the sudden, she stuck her glove out at the end and caught it. I had already told her to go. I just blew that one.”

Carmichaels had another runner make an out on the bases in the first inning when Chun tried to score on a wild pitch, but the ball bounced off the backstop right to Rockets catcher Kelsey Vessels and she tagged Chun out.

There’s now a three-way tie atop the section standings with West Greene, Carmichaels and Jefferson-Morgan all having one loss. All three play each other one more time.

“We’ll get back to work,” Briggs said. “This might be a little bit of a wakeup call for us.”

Carmichaels 000 010 00 – 1 3 2

Jefferson-Morgan 000 100 01 – 2 6 1

W-Bazzoli (3 walks, 10 strikeouts). L-Barnyak (1 walk, 13 strikeouts). 2B-Carmichaels, Barnyak. J-M, Wood. HR-J-M, Bazzoli.