HOPE — After Hauser rolled to a 16-2, five-inning win at South Decatur on Thursday, Cougars softball coach Lisa Huff made a few adjustments for Friday’s rematch at Hauser.
Those adjustments — mainly a pitching change — kept the Mid-Hoosier Conference-leading Jets off balance all day. Hauser had to rally with a pair of runs in the bottom of the seventh to escape with a 6-5 victory.
“That’s the difference in tonight’s game vs. (Thursday) night,” Hauser coach Andy Brunner said. “The young lady that they had on the mound tonight (Erynn Dyer) was just enough slower to wreak havoc on undisciplined batters, and that’s what it boiled down to. It was lack of discipline on our part. They managed to figure it out in time and get it done, but I’m not going to say that I’m happy with our performance tonight.”
The Jets (19-2, 7-1) jumped out to an early 4-0 lead with four runs in the second. But the Cougars (4-12, 2-5) started chipping away, first with a two-out home run by Kassidy Haley in the fourth.
South Decatur drew closer with a pair of runs on Hauser errors with two out in the sixth against reliever Dani Steward. After Brunner put his starters, including pitcher Paige McDaniel, back into the game in the seventh, the Cougars scored the tying and go-ahead runs on another Hauser throwing error with two out in the seventh.
Kylie Mack led off the bottom of the seventh with a double to right center and went to third on a wild pitch. Hannah Johnson then lifted a sacrifice fly to the fence in center field that turned into a three-base error when it was dropped. Dyer induced a popup for the first out, but then Reagan Johnson singled between short and third to plate Hannah Johnson with the winning run.
“I think we came into it with our heads held pretty high, and we kind of got a little bit shaky,” Reagan Johnson said. “I think that we picked our heads back up and tried to get back into it. It was very nerve-racking for me. It did give me a little bit of adrenaline and get me ready to go.”
The Jets’ runs in the second came on an error, a two-out RBI-single by Kyra Meister and a two-out, two-run single from Hannah Taylor.
“We were so close,” South Decatur coach Lisa Huff said. “That one inning hurt us. But they played hard and fought until the end. Playing a good team like that, and losing 6-5 in the bottom of the seventh, I can’t be disappointed in that.”
Hannah Johnson finished 2 for 2 with two doubles, and Morgan Bottoms went 2 for 3 to lead Hauser’s 11-hit attack against Dyer. The Jets had put up 16 hits on Thursday against South Decatur ace Loryn Pate.
“They did a very good job pitching, and our girls just struggled with it,” Brunner said. “It’s something we have worked on all season, but the offspeed pitching really got to us this evening for some reason. I don’t know why. The girls have bounced back and forth all year between fast and slow, and I’ve been very happy with the way that they have handled that. But tonight, they couldn’t read it like they normally do.”
That was the effect the that Huff and the Cougars hoped it would have.
“Erynn Dyer came in and did an amazing job,” Huff said. “We figured with her throwing a little bit slower, it kind of affected Hauser’s hitting, and our defense really picked up tonight. We made a few changes defensive-wise, and we put the ball in play. We hit the ball, and we just kept fighting to the end.”
Seven different Cougars managed one hit. Defensively, South Decatur cut its errors from seven on Thursday to four on Friday and turned two double plays.
“I thought we played amazingly well after (Thursday) night because (Thursday) night, we kind of slacked a little bit,” Huff said. “We had Hauser a little worried. I’m just proud of all the girls because we played hard, we fought until the end. It would have been nice to come away with a victory, but we came that close. Our enthusiasm, everybody, the bench, all the players, it was a full team effort tonight.”
The Jets, who can clinch at least a tie for the MHC title with a win Monday at home against Morristown or Tuesday at Morristown and can win it outright with a pair of victories, honored their three senior players and senior manager prior to Friday’s senior night game.
“Congratulations to Hannah Johnson and Zoee Nading and Dani Steward and Alexis Tallent,” Brunner said. “It’s been really fun to have them as part of the program. We have a lot of ball left to play this year, but hopefully not much more ball like that.”
