Hauser’s Kyra Meister awaits the ball as Edinburgh’s Alix Streeval arrives at third base during a game May 10 at Hauser High School in Hope.
The Republic file photo
Hauser may have overlooked Milan in Thursday’s softball sectional final, but make no mistake about it, the Jets won’t be overlooking Eastern (Pekin) in Tuesday’s regional.
Hauser needed a four-run seventh inning to escape an upset bid from Milan. The Jets hope things will go a little smoother when they host Eastern at 6 p.m. Tuesday.
“I think that Thursday night was eye-opening in one of the best ways possible,” Hauser coach Andy Brunner said. “It showed the girls that we’re not just going to walk in and the other team lay down. We talked about it in practice on Friday and worked through some things and had a pretty good walk-through. We will be ready to go full force Tuesday.”
Eastern (14-12) entered the postseason with a losing record before beating Austin, Crawford County and Providence to win its sectional.
The Jets and Musketeers have played only one common opponent. Eastern lost 12-4 to a Brownstown Central team that Hauser beat 12-6 in Wednesday’s sectional semifinals.
“That goes back to Milan,” Brunner said. “We beat them 15-2 in five innings on their field, and our season almost comes to an end because we thought it was going to be an easy game. There aren’t going to be any more easy games.”
Hauser (23-7), which reached the semistate final in Class A last year, moved up to 2A this year and hasn’t skipped a beat. The Jets returned nine of their top 10 players, and all nine have at least 15 RBIs.
Senior third baseman Kyra Meister leads the team in batting with a .530 average and has 25 RBIs. Sophomore second baseman Izzy Brunner (.517, 20 RBIs), junior pitcher Paige McDaniel (.500, 26 RBIs), sophomore center fielder Lucie Asher (.474, 19 RBIs), senior shortstop Hannah Taylor (.448, 31 RBIs), senior catcher/left fielder Reagan Johnson (.414, 28 RBIs), sophomore first baseman Maley Jordan (.380, 18 RBIs), senior right fieler Kylie Mack (.379, 15 RBIs) and sophomore catcher/left fielder Haylin Campbell (.328, 22 RBIs) also have been solid at the plate.
“That’s been our saving grace,” Andy Brunner said. “It seems like when the top doesn’t perform, the bottom does, and vice-versa. We’ve had a few games this year when we’ve hit 1-through-9, but not as consistently as we did last year.”
Campbell, the Jets’ No. 9 hitter, had the winning hit with a walk-off single in the bottom of the seventh in the sectional final.
“Haylin has been struggling this year, but she came through big Thursday night,” Andy Brunner said. “She doesn’t have a lot of hits, but every at bat, Haylin puts the ball in play.”
McDaniel is 19-5 in the circle with a 2.91 ERA and 149 strikeouts in 132.1 innings.
A win Tuesday would put Hauser in Saturday’s Forest Park Semistate. But the Jets aren’t looking past the regional.
“One pitch, one play, one at-bat, one game at a time,” Andy Brunner said. “Softball IQ should be going up. Readiness should be going up. Competitiveness should be going up. We can’t wait until the fourth or fifth inning to start playing. It has to be crystal clear from the time the ump says, ‘Play ball.’”
