SEYMOUR — Trinity Lutheran had its chances to steal an upset bid against Class A No. 3 Hauser, but the Cougars left the door open too many times and the Jets took advantage.
Hauser collected three consecutive hits, with a Tessa Sims single being the game-winning RBI, and the Jets come away with an 5-4 victory in eight innings.
Sydney Schoen led off the top of the eighth with a single. Hailey Lange then smacked a double that reached the gap between left and center field, setting up Sims with the single that scored the go-ahead run.
“I thought we executed very well, hitting wise,” Tessa Sims said. “We were on and off all night, but towards the end of the game, we saw the pitcher (Hannah Deaton) four times through the lineup. I feel like we did very well that way. Defensively, we made some mistakes, but we picked ourselves up and we knew when it was time to get serious.”
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Errors almost cost the Jets (15-3) the game, and that is one point of emphasis that Hauser coach Craig Sims said that his team needs to clean up.
Defensively, when the pressure of was on, though, the Jets shined. Second baseman Shelby Fugate made a leaping over-the-head catch in the first inning that potentially saved a run. In the eighth, she made a pop-up catch and scooped up a grounder and made an accurate throw to get the runner out in time.
Trinity (10-5) had a 2-0 lead heading into the fourth inning. Hauser got singles from Hailey Lange and Tessa Sims. A costly error from the Cougars allowed two runs to score to tie the game.
In the top of the fifth, the Jets’ Lauryn Starnes had a single and a stolen base. Mykenzie Ault singled and stole second. Schoen sent them both home with a single toward right field to give Hauser a 4-2 lead.
Trinity responded in the bottom half of the inning. With the top of order leading off, Savannah Harweger walked. Taylor Russell reached on an inaccurate throw, and Harweger scored. Jodi Goecker singled and Jaryn Holtsclaw made the sacrifice to score Russell to tie the game at 4-4.
“We had a couple of execution errors that made the difference, and if we lay down some bunts, we win the ballgame” Trinity coach Chad Goecker said. “That was a really good team that we played against, and it is a good learning experience for us for the postseason that we need to execute. It is great to play competition like that so we can get that experience.”
