Paige McDaniel
HOPE — After allowing Jennings County to tie the game with three runs in the top of the seventh inning Monday night to keep the game alive, it only seemed fitting that Paige McDaniel was the one to end it.
The Hauser pitcher delivered a bases-loaded single with nobody out in the bottom of the seventh to lift the Jets to a 6-5 win in their softball season opener.
“I was a little nervous because it’s my first game as a sophomore, but I knew I could do it, and I had the girls behind my back, so if I couldn’t do it, the two behind me could,” McDaniel said.
McDaniel, who threw an eight-hitter, was the star offensively for Hauser. She smacked a solo home run with one out in the fifth that gave the Jets a seemingly-insurmountable 5-1 lead and end the pitching day for Panther starter Kenzie Matern.
But Jennings (0-2) didn’t go quietly. The Panthers plated a run on three singles and a Hauser error in the sixth, then scored three times on two hits and two errors in the seventh. Elizabeth Evans led off the seventh with a single, Kassidy Beal had a double, and after both of those runners had come around to score, Alexis Carson delivered a game-tying RBI sacrifice fly.
“Our kids did a nice job of making a comeback and not giving up,” Jennings coach Bobby Willis said. “If only I send a couple more runners home, it might have been a different ending.”
Maley Jordan led off the bottom of the seventh for the Jets with a double to the fence in left and went to third on an error. After Izzy Brunner was hit by a pitch, Willis elected to intentionally walk Eastern Illinois recruit Hannah Taylor to load the bases and pitch to McDaniel.
McDaniel stepped in and lined a shot over the third base bag.
“I think Hannah is the best hitter they have,” Willis said. “I don’t think anyone would argue that. Plus, we put the force anywhere, loading the bases. A lot more things can happen that way. Obviously, Paige was successful earlier in the game, but we believe Hannah is the best hitter that they have, and it really was also about loading the bases and getting some more options defensively.”
Hannah Taylor
Hauser had built a 4-0 lead after three innings. The Jets scored a run in the first on singles by Jordan and Taylor and a Panther error and added a run in the second on a walk, two hit batters and a bunt single by Lucie Asher. Hauser doubled the lead in the third on a single by Brunner, an RBI-double by Taylor and an RBI-sacrifice fly by Bayleigh Rutherford.
“I thought the bats were pretty good tonight,” Hauser coach Andy Brunner said. “They chipped away all through the game adding runs. We had a couple innings where we left baserunners, and we should have capitalized on it, but we got the win, and they figured it out. We could stand to be a a little bit better, but it was the first game of the season, and we started five freshmen tonight.”
The Jets had only nine available players. In addition to the five freshman, they started two sophomores and two juniors.
“It’s a young team,” Brunner said. “I’m proud of them. They didn’t have to give themselves that tough of a situation. Nonetheless, they got the win.”
Jordan and Taylor each went 2 for 3, and McDaniel finished 2 for 4 for Hauser. McDaniel struck out eight Panthers and walked only one.
“My nerves were kind of getting to me, especially after I threw that ball away at home (in the top of the seventh),” Taylor said. “But I knew Paige would pitch a good game, and I knew after that, we were going to clean it up.”
Alexis Carson went 2 for 3, and Delaynee McCreary went 2 for 4 for Jennings, which had opened its season with a 9-2 loss to Portage on Saturday.
“We had lots of improvement, a little bit more confidence at the plate,” Willis said. “I think the pitcher we faced tonight was quite a bit better than the pitcher we faced on Saturday. If we would have hit like this on Saturday, that game would been a little bit different.”
