JAY – It was not a thing of beauty.
What Jay’s first run Wednesday lacked in style, it certainly made up for in significance.
The Tigers tied the game on a combination of Telstar errors in the fourth inning and quickly saw their showdown with the Rebels in a whole new light.
“We had to get that first one just to prove that we can get the runs,” said Jay pitcher Bree Loon. “That was amazing to tie it. It’s so hard to get runs against them. Then we got that one, and that just shot our confidence back up. We were ready to go after that.”
That one run led to two more in the fifth as the Tigers won the battle of MVC unbeatens with a 3-1 victory.
“We lost the MVC championship to them last year,” said Jay catcher Sara Fetterhoff. “We came in thinking we really wanted to win this game. This was one of the games we really wanted.”
Loon allowed four hits and struck out 12. The defense behind her was flawless, highlighted by a nice diving catch from Lindsey McDonald at short and a fine stop at second by Kaylie DeMillo that ended the game.
“I don’t have any problem with someone hitting the ball as long as we play defense,” said Jay coach Robin Roberts.
Equally as important for the Tigers (6-0) was getting six hits, four of which led to the three runs. DeMillo had two of the hits.
“That’s one of the best pitchers in the league,” Roberts said of Telstar’s Jillian Kimball. “We hit the ball hard. We hit the ball better than we’ve hit all year.”
Kimball no-hit the Tigers through three innings, but Jay then took advantage of some crucial miscues.
“They made some nice plays,” said Telstar coach Jim Lunney. “Their shortstop had a nice play in the first inning, and DeMillo made a nice stop in the last inning. We made a couple errors in the outfield that hurt us.”
The Tigers broke the 1-1 tie with two runs in the fifth. After Felicia Floyd led off with a single, Fetterhoff pulled a drive into the gap in left-center. The ball was bobbled in the outfield and the relay throw was mishandled, which allowed Floyd to score easily. Fetterhoff later scored when DeMillo singled with two outs.
“I really haven’t been hitting very well lately,” said Fetterhoff. “This game, I came in thinking I really have to get my hips around and just hit the ball as hard as I can. Luckily, it was a good pitch, and I was able to come around on it.”
Telstar (4-1) got a leadoff single by Kimball in the sixth and a leadoff double by Liz Rosenberg in the seventh but failed to bring them around.
“Give credit to Bree,” said Lunney. “She pitched well. We chased some high ones. We took a couple of called third strikes. We missed a couple of bunt signs. We didn’t play well. Why didn’t we play well? Bree Loon was throwing.”
The Rebels scored their lone run in the third when Sarah Farnum doubled and scored on Tiffany Jordan’s single to right.
Jay answered in the fourth when DeMillo doubled and scored on a misplay of a McDonald hit back to the pitcher. Kimball tried to get DeMillo at third, but nobody was covering the bag. When Telstar tried to get McDonald going to second, DeMillo raced home.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
