It's been a busy week and a half for the Jefferson City Lady Jays, but if busy means they'll keep winning, they'll take it.
For the third straight day, the Lady Jays brought home a victory, defeating the Southern Boone Lady Eagles 13-3 in six innings Wednesday at 63 Diamonds.
"It was a goal for us," Jefferson City coach Zac Miller said. "The girls came out from the get-go and hit the ball well tonight."
Wednesday's game was the ninth in nine days for the Lady Jays, who are 7-2 during that stretch.
The Lady Jays have averaged nearly eight runs per game during the stretch. The 13 they scored Wednesday was the third most they've scored all season.
Kara Daly got it started quickly with a no-doubt solo home run to left field to lead off the game. Mychael Jett also homered, a three-run shot to center field in a seven-run fourth inning. It was Jett's first career varsity home run.
"We told her, 'Hey, act like you hit one before,'" Miller joked. "Just that excitement, that's what makes it fun watching these games and coaching these girls."
It didn't clear the fence as much as Daly's. Jett needed a helpful bounce off the top of the fence.
"It counts as a home run in the book," Miller said. "She's super excited and we're happy for her."
Jett finished with two hits and five RBI. Daly reached base twice more after her homer, walking both times.
"We have high hopes for her for sure," Miller said of Daly, a freshman. "She's a fun kid to watch and she's always working her tail off."
Lauren Neubauer had three hits, including a leadoff double in the big fourth inning, and scored twice.
Megan Green also accounted for three hits with two RBI. Reese Desimone added a pair of hits and an RBI.
"They are a good ball team," Miller said of Southern Boone. " We knew we were going to have to play well to get on them."
Jett pitched all six innings for Jefferson City, allowing two earned runs on seven hits with six strikeouts and no walks.
"She did a good job keeping hitters off-balance," Miller said. "It seems like they had a lot of weak contact early. The one inning they put some hits together, which some crazy things happened that inning defensively."
The Lady Eagles scored all three of their runs in the sixth inning on four hits and an error.
With the bases loaded, Reganne Scheer reached on an error and one runner crossed the plate. A Brookkelle Barnum single to right field drove in two more runs.
The Lady Jays scored three in the bottom half to end the game by run-rule.
Alex Gilliland singled and reached third on an error, which also allowed Desimone to score from first base. Jett then singled in Gilliland and Green later added a single that drove in one and an error allowed a second run to score.
"Districts is right around the corner, so we're trying to get them to think postseason play in every inning of every game," Miller said."We want to have that pressure on ourselves and really hold ourselves accountable."
Jefferson City (12-9) will head to Carthage to play in a tournament Friday and Saturday.
"This week we want to try to get Mychael some rest," Miller said. "She had a long weekend. We'll probably go with a different pitcher for the first game in Carthage and she'll probably throw that second game. We just want to try to get her some rest so she's on her A-game next week."
Jefferson City will close out the regular season Monday at home against Pleasant Hope. The Lady Jays will play in the Class 4 District 9 Tournament, which starts Wednesday at Rock Bridge.
"We want to keep on taking quality at-bats and keep executing moving runners around," Miller said.
The Lady Jays lost Wednesday's JV game 3-2.
Abi Karr tripled and scored a run.