Jennings County’s Marlee Elston looks to tag Hauser’s Lucie Asher Monday at Hauser High School.
Tommy Walker | For The Republic
HOPE — One word described Monday’s season opener for Hauser — ugly.
The Jets committed several errors, poor baserunning and the inability to string hits together led them to a 9-1 season-opening home softball loss against visiting Jennings County.
The Panthers scored six of their nine runs via an error. Hauser committed six of them in the game, which is understandably frustrating for Hauser coach Andy Brunner, who mentioned his team playing well in the scrimmage game last week with Union County.
Jennings got on the scoreboard when Riley Byford singled. That eventually led to the Jets committing three errors to give the Panthers a 3-0 lead in the top of the second inning. It only got worse for Hauser as the next inning they committed a couple more errors that led to another run to make it 4-0. Jennings put the game away in the fifth when Jillian Brauer and Alexis Carson hit back-to-back ground rule doubles, and a single plated two more runs for a 6-0 lead.
Hauser’s lone run came in the bottom of the fifth when Haylin Campbell walked and went to second on a Lexie Hamilton single. Two wild pitches in the next at bat scored the run.
Haven Hartwell pitched the final two innings in relief for the Jets.
Hamilton went 2 for 3 with a double, and Izzy Brunner was 1 for 3 with a double for Hauser. Paige McDaniel allowed six runs, four unearned, with eight strikeouts.
Meanwhile for Jennings, Kenzie Matern struck out seven in four shutout innings, and Audrey McDonald allowed one run over the final three innings. Matern was 1 for 3 with a triple, and Brauer and Carson each went 1 for 4 with a double.
“We were ready to play from a standpoint of, we just needed to be on the field with another team. I think there’s definitely some things we need to clean up,” Jennings coach Bobby Willis said. “Overall, they were ready to go, and they showed that. It took a little bit of adjustment for our younger kids with the strike zone. They’re good players. They’re going to make adjustments in the game, and they did that.”
