It couldn't get much more back and forth Friday for the Jefferson City Lady Jays.
"It was a grinder," Lady Jays coach Zac Miller said.
After a four-run lead, a tie and a five-run lead for Jefferson City, the Ozark Lady Tigers started creeping back in.
But the Lady Jays were able to hit all through the lineup and they held on for an 11-9 victory at Vogel Field.
"Back and forth, back and forth, back and forth the whole game," Miller said. "Those are fun ones for the girls to come out on top in."
Seven Lady Jays had at least one hit, including home runs by Kara Daly and Jessica Shanks.
Already up 1-0 in the second, Daly came up after back-to-back singles by Rheagen Nevins and Addison Morgan.
Daly brought them home with a screaming line drive to center field that just cleared the fence for a three-run home run.
"The thing barely got higher than the dugout," Miller said. "It's kind of one of those it's either going to go over or through. It was a shot."
Avrey Reynolds retired the side on three groundouts in the third, but Ozark got right back in it with back-to-back singles plus a triple to the corner in right field by Emily Shmucker to cut the Jefferson City lead in half.
An RBI single for Raegen Dickinson, a groundout and an RBI single hit off the second base bag and into center field by Savannah Hughes tied it at 4.
In the bottom half, Daly walked on four pitches and ended up scoring when Reece DeSimone hit a shallow fly ball that bounced on the infield dirt and into right field for a two-run single made it 6-4.
The lead got back up to four in the fifth when Shanks got a hold of a pitch and sent it flying high over the fence in center field for a two-run shot, her first career homer in her third varsity at-bat.
"We see that power in practice every now and then," Miller said. "It's just the question of can she get one in the game. Super excited for her. I love seeing that, that first first varsity home run. She was just thrilled."
Jefferson City led 9-4 after the fifth, 9-7 in the middle of the sixth and 11-7 after the sixth.
Ozark had two runners in scoring position with one out before Reynolds struck out a batter looking at a pitch on the upper outside corner and sealed the victory with a popup to Shanks at first base.
Reynolds struck out three, walked none and allowed seven earned runs on 13 hits.
Morgan, the leadoff batter, and Nevins, the No. 9 batter, each had two hits for the Lady Jays. Daly had four RBI, Shanks had three, DeSimone had two, and Reynolds and Nevins each had one.
"I think everybody up and down the order had a quality at-bat or two tonight," Miller said. "When we can be productive one through nine, that's gonna be tough. I was excited about that."
Jefferson City (1-0) has a busy week ahead with three straight days with a game starting Tuesday at Odessa.
The Lady Jays return home Wednesday to host Warrensburg before hosting St. Elizabeth on Thursday.