RISING SUN — The Hauser softball team stands to face some tough challenges on its journey toward a second straight Class A state championship.
Monday’s game was not one of them.
Tessa Sims struck out 12 hitters and allowed just one hit in four innings of work, adding a pair of hits at the plate in the Jets’ 10-0 opening-round rout of South Decatur at the Rising Sun Sectional.
Class A No. 1 Hauser (22-0) will face Jac-Cen-Del in a semifinal game at 5:30 p.m. today. The Jets defeated the Eagles in April, 17-4, but Hauser coach Craig Sims doesn’t expect the rematch to go quite as smoothly.
“They’re not the same team we beat,” he said Monday night after Jac-Cen-Del rolled in its first-round game against Oldenburg Academy, 13-0.
Hauser also won with ease, though, thanks in large part to outfielder Sydney Schoen, who went 3 for 3 at the plate on her birthday.
“I told her it’s going to be her birthday every day from now on,” Craig Sims said.
Tessa Sims drove in two runs and scored three for the Jets, who also got two hits apiece from Leslie Sims and Abby Kidwell.
Up by five runs going into the bottom of the fourth, the Jets put the game away with a five-run inning.
“It was the third time seeing (the pitcher),” Craig Sims noted, “and we finally made the adjustments.”
