Paige McDaniel
HOPE — One day after managing only two hits in a 1-0 loss at Greensburg, and then getting off to a slow start against Edinburgh on Wednesday, the Hauser bats got going in the right direction.
The Jets put up 13 runs and 12 hits in their final four trips to the plate in posting a 13-3 five-inning softball victory to remain unbeaten atop the Mid-Hoosier Conference.
“It’s always good to get a win,” Hauser coach Andy Brunner said. “But transferring back and forth between the different speeds of pitching, it’s something that we’re still working through. They have really good days and good transitions, and they have transitions that are not so great. I feel like it took us longer than it should have to get our bats going tonight, but at the end of the day, the job got done.”
The Lancers (3-10, 2-6) jumped out to an early 2-0 lead when Kenna Streeval led off the game with a single, Alix Streeval followed with a double and Kyah Streeval liked a one-out triple off Jets pitcher Paige McDaniel.
“It usually takes me an inning to get settled in and start pitching my fastest,” McDaniel said. “I need to work on that and get fully warmed up so I can go in the first inning and throw hard.”
McDaniel got the Hauser offense going in the second when she led off with a home run to left field off Edinburgh starter Eliose Cox. Haylin Campbell reached on an error and eventually scored on a passed ball, and Lucie Asher added two-out RBI-single to give the Jets (9-4, 6-0) a 3-2 lead.
An RBI-double by Maley Jordan in the third made it 4-2. Hauser then broke it open with six in the fourth, thanks to a two-run single by Jordan, a two-run double by McDaniel and and RBI-single by Campbell.
The Lancers picked up a run in the fifth on a single by Kenna Streeval and a triple by Alix Streeval. But the Jets put it away with three in the bottom of the fifth, thanks to a two-run single by Izzy Brunner and a sacrifice fly by McDaniel.
McDaniel finished 3 for 3 with two doubles, a homer and four RBIs, and Jordan went 3 for 4 with a double and three RBIs. Izzy Brunner went 2 for 2 with two RBIs.
“It was a really good performance by all my teammates,” McDaniel said. “I just saw the ball really well and went back to the dugout and told the other girls what I see, and that gives them an idea of what they’re going to see in the box, and we put together some runs. It was a good night.”
McDaniel threw a six-hitter with nine strikeouts and no walks.
Kyah Streeval went 2 for 2 with a double and a triple for Edinburgh. Alix Streeval went 2 for 3 with a double, a triple and two RBIs, and Kenna Streeval went 2 for 3.
“We had a couple of errors that we shouldn’t have had, but we’ll get that cleaned up,” Edinburgh coach Ben Taylor said. “I do like where our lineup is. Obviously, our top is performing they way they’re performing, but we’re getting a lot of contact all the way through, so that’s progress, and that’s where we need to be right now at this time of season.”
The Lancers had won three in a row since the return of Kyah Streeval, who had missed a couple of weeks after having her appendix removed.
“With Kyah coming back, we got a big boost with team morale and everything,” Taylor said. “I think that got all the girls back to playing ball they way that they should. We’re going to find our stride at the right time and hopefully finish out strong.”
Hauser is in the driver’s seat in the MHC race with two conference games left apiece against South Decatur and Morristown. The Jets will host a potential sectional opponent in Milan on Thursday.
“We won’t overlook anybody,” Andy Brunner said. “We prepare for the different levels of teams that we’re facing. We do have four conference games left, and we also have a lot of tough non-conference games to play. While we’re not overlooking anybody, those are our focus right now to get us prepared for the postseason.”
