HOPE — Tuesday was singles night at Hauser.
Trinity Lutheran and the host Jets combined for 28 hits, and 27 of them were singles. Class A No. 6 Hauser mustered two more hits than the Cougars (15-13) on its way to a 12-7 victory.
“That’s the worst softball we’ve played in two years,” Hauser coach Craig Sims said. “That’s bad softball. We gave up too many hits, we were sloppy on defense and we had all kind of communication errors. It was just an all-around bad performance. If we have another game like that in the postseason, the season’s over.”
The Jets (15-4) built a 6-1 lead after three innings, but gave up three runs on three squeeze bunts in the fourth. Hauser got the runs back in the bottom of the fourth, but gave up three more runs in the fifth. Again, the Jets answered with three in the bottom of the inning to keep Trinity (6-7) at bay.
Hauser’s Hunter Crain went 3 for 3 with two RBIs and had the game’s only extra-base hit, a double.
“We were really focused on on the location (Trinity’s Morgan Gabbard) was throwing and were just staying inside and hitting it,” Crain said.
Sydney Schoen went 3 for 4 with two RBIs for the Jets. Winning pitcher Tessa Sims went 2 for 3 with two RBIs, Shelby Fugate went 2 for 4 with two RBIs and Katie Taylor went 2 for 5.
Genesis Munoz went 4 for 4 with two RBIs to lead the Cougars. Jodi Goecker went 3 for 4 and Jaryn Holtzclaw went 2 for 3 with two RBIs.
“I’m really pleased with the way we hit the ball,” Trinity coach Chad Goecker said. “The girls have been really coming around. We’ve had some tough competition and seen some good pitchers here of late, and the girls have responded very, very well.”
The Cougars, who scored their first run in the first inning, were especially adept at getting the bunt down, particularly with runners at third base. Holtzclaw, Hannah Deaton and Maddie Bell executed squeeze bunts in a three-run fourth.
“We were able to execute some bunts and do some different things,” Chad Goecker said. “It’s nice when you can work the short game and also hit the ball. We knew tonight, we’d have to score a lot of runs to get the wins. We just didn’t score enough. But I’m very proud of the way they responded.”
