HOPE — After jumping out to a big lead on Waldron, Class A No. 4 Hauser had a chance to work on some of the finer points of its game over its final two at bats.
That included a lot of bunting, and it led to a lot of runs. The Jets scored seven times in the third and two more in the fourth on its way to a 15-0 Mid-Hoosier Conference softball win.
“Coming into the game, we don’t know if we’re going to win or lose right off the bat, but we had a good feeling, and the only thing we can do is play our best,” senior Tessa Sims said. “We were just trying to get people playing time, and people came in and stepped up, and I think they did well.”
Sims went 3 for 3 with a triple, a single and a double in the first three innings before stepping aside for a pinch hitter in the fourth. Hauser (6-2, 5-1) used its entire 13-player roster.
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]Click here to purchase photos from this gallery
The Jets actually had to finish the game with only eight players in the top of the fifth after Mykenzie Ault sprained an ankle trying to score on a bunt in the bottom of the fourth.
“When you get a lead like that, you want to try to learn something from it, take something away from it,” Hauser coach Craig Sims said. “I try to be respectful of the score No. 1, and No 2, try to teach the kids something at the same time. So we worked on bunting, we worked on running hard, and unfortunately, it cost us a rolled ankle there.”
The Jets wasted no time getting on the board. Ault led off the first with an infield single and went to second on a wild pitch. Sydney Schoen walked, and with one out, Tessa Sims drove both runners home with a triple to left.
Hauser added four runs in the second. Hunter Crain led off with a single, and courtesy runner Lexi Tallent stole second, went to third on a wild pitch and scored on a groundout by Lauryn Starnes. Katie Taylor reached on an error, went to second on a bunt single by Ault, took third on the throw to first and scored on a wild pitch. Schoen singled in Ault, went to second on a walk to Shelby Fugate and scored on a single by Tessa Sims to make it 6-0.
Hannah Johnson and Crain led off the third with back-to-back triples to spark a seven-run inning. Schoen and Tessa Sims had doubles in the inning, which ended with a 13-0 Jets advantage.
Freshman Zoee Nading made her first career pitching start. After allowing one hit in the first, she gave up a double and hit two batters to load the bases with one out in the second. Crain came on to get the next two outs and then allowed two hits over the final three innings.
“(Nading) pitched the fifth inning (in a 16-2 win at Waldron Thursday) night and did a nice job, so we thought we’d give her the start tonight and see what she could do,” Craig Sims said. “She didn’t do a bad job in that first inning, but got in trouble pretty quick there in the second. So we brought Hunter in, and Hunter did what she needed to do to get us out of that jam.”
