Snatching the tough catches and making the routine outs, both defenses made it look easy.

It was one rally that proved the biggest difference.

Seymour’s softball team recorded four runs in the fifth inning to top Jackson County rivals Brownstown Central 7-1 on Monday.

In the bottom of the first inning, the Owls (6-1) first got on the board.

Tori Snook singled as the lead off before Haley Mobley grounded out to advance the runner to second base. With a pair of outs, Lo Schmidt brought Snook in for a score with a single to right field.

The Braves (6-7) left one runner on in the top of the inning.

A scoreless second inning featured a lone hit from the braves’ Leah Stidam and an Owls double play from a catch and throw by the pitcher to first base.

The third inning proved much of the same — strong fielding by both sides — as neither team could get a hit but the Braves got on base with a hit by pitch.

Brownstown Central knotted the game at 1-1 when Claire Poulton RBI doubled to center field following a single by Addie Krieger in the fourth.

The Braves were then able to get runners on second and third base, but Owls pitcher Mikayla Moore tossed a strikeout to keep the game tied.

The Owls didn’t trial long.

Rachel Kaufman led with a double before Schmidt blasted an RBI double to the left gap to score Kaufman. Faith Rebber sacrificed to left field to score Schmidt and put the Owls up 3-1.

SHS opened the game up in the bottom of the fifth.

An RBI triple by Mobley and RBI single from Kaufman boosted the Owls’ lead to 5-1. Kaufman then scored on an error in left field and Rebber added an RBI single for the 7-1 advantage.

“We got off to a really slow start,” Owls coach Jerry Burton said. “We weren’t doing a very good job adjusting to the speed on the outside pitch. The more of that you see, the easier as it gets (during play).”

Braves coach Monte Ault said that the Owls’ offense took advantage of their opportunity in the fifth.

“We knew coming in that they were a good hitting team top to bottom,” Ault said. “They’re geared up to hit the fastball. We probably should have thrown a little more of a change up (in the fifth). We had one bad inning. They put runners in key positions and had drove them in — that was the difference in the game.”

Just one batter was able to get on base in the sixth inning, as Haley Westfall added a single to the Owls’ batting totals.

Taking the Braves out in order in the top of the seventh, the Owls secured the victory.

“I thought our defense was sharp. We were very solid,” Burton said.

Moore picked up the win and Jami Bryant took the loss in the circle.

The Owls finished with nine hits to the Braves’ four. Schmidt led all batters with three and Kaufman had two.

Ault said that the Braves are getting better with each outing.

“Overall, I’m pleased,” Ault said. “I thought we kept them off for most of it with the pitching. We’re all getting better and we’re not using the excuse that we’re a young team. We have some good athletes that will get better.

We make a few plays and the game maybe would have been a little different.

Seymour will go to New Albany today while Brownstown hosts Scottsburg on Thursday.

“We’re getting into the part of our schedule where we play better and better teams,” Burton said. “I think we need to come out focused every game and continue improving.”