Two-out hitting was the story Tuesday for the Jefferson City Lady Jays.
The Lady Jays plated seven runs, all with two outs, to pick up a 7-2 win against the Hickman Kewpies in Central Missouri Activities Conference action at Vogel Field.
“It’s always good, we’ll take that first conference win whenever we can,” Jefferson City coach Zac Miller said. “That kind of gets that monkey off our back.”
It was not the best start for Jefferson City, as Hickman leadoff hitter Lucy Hurtado reached first after an infield pop-up dropped between a pair of Lady Jays before Adlen Baker drove a double off the center-field wall to drive in Hurtado and take a 1-0 lead just two batters into the game.
Freshman pitcher Summer Branch, paired with a key defensive play, was able to limit damage in the circle, as one was all the Kewpies were able to get.
After walking the next batter, Branch gave up a double to deep left-center field. Alexa O’Donnell scooped up the ball, fired to Jaela Nickerson at shortstop before Nickerson unleashed a throw to plate to nab Baker at home with ease.
Branch induced a popout and a groundout to second to further avoid damage.
“That was huge,” Miller said. “When they are putting up a crooked number there, it seems so much harder to get back.”
The Lady Jays answered in the bottom half of the first. Avrey Reynolds singled and stole two bases with two outs, setting up Amaya Ford to beat out an infield single and tie up the game at 1.
“Avrey was able to do that twice tonight, picking a change to move on, it was great baserunning from her twice,” Miller said. “If Amaya jogs down the line, we don’t score there. So that hustle down the line, that’s a run for us.”
The score remained tied at 1 until the bottom of the third when Jefferson City put runners on second and third with no outs.
Ford hit a hard liner to shortstop, but it was snagged and thrown to third to double off Elliot O’Donnell to leave Reynolds at second with two outs.
Reynolds stole third and Emma Friedman drove her home with a single back up the middle to push the Lady Jays ahead 2-1.
“Emma was able to step up there and put a ball right back up the middle,” Miller said. “She came back in the dugout and said, ‘That’s right where I wanted to hit it.’ That tells me she went up there with a plan. She had a plan and tried to hit the ball in the right spot and got that run in.”
Branch settled in with a lead, allowing just one hit from innings four through six, and gave her team the chance to add on.
The Lady Jays did just that in the bottom of the sixth, sending 10 batters to the plate and scoring five runs to increase their lead to 7-1.
Allison Carwile started off the scoring in the inning with a two-out, two-RBI bloop single over third, Elliot O’Donnell added on with a two-RBI single and Reynolds brought in the final run with another single.
“Allison was able to step up and drop in the right hit, at the right spot, at the right time,” Miller said. “I was telling the girls how big that was because it made it a 4-1 ballgame. If it’s 2-1, the whole mentality in their dugout completely shifts if they get out of that inning. Us being able to tack on some extra runs for that insurance was huge.”
Branch allowed an unearned run in the seventh on an errant throw to first base, but Reynolds was able to scoop up the wide throw and get Ella Grant trying to move up to second base to end the game.
Branch picked up a complete game in the winning effort, allowing seven hits and one walk while striking out four.
“She’s been in the circle for us a lot this season, dealing with sicknesses and whatnot,” Miller said. “She’s learned to mature quickly being in that spot. I definitely wasn’t worried about what she was doing out there. I thought she had a pretty good ballgame tonight and threw the ball well. When she does that it’s going to give us a chance.”
Skylar Goodman led the way for Hickman (3-9, 0-3 CMAC), going 3-for-3 out of the No. 9 spot.
Reynolds led the 11-hit attack for Jefferson City (8-10, 1-3 CMAC) after her 3-for-4 night with two runs scored and an RBI, while Eliot O’Donnel, Ford, Friedman and Carwile each had two hits.
The win gives the Lady Jays their third straight victory and first in the CMAC this year. Jefferson City will look to keep it going tonight on the road against Blair Oaks at the Falcon Athletic Complex at 5 p.m.
Jefferson City also picked up a win in the JV game Tuesday, beating Hickman 13-3.