Jessica Baker stepped to the plate with an RBI already to her credit on the the night. She hit a bloop fly ball to shallow left field that was dropped and allowed Archer and Cross to score and give West a 3-1 lead.
“Jessica Baker came up big for us today,” coach Baker said. “She’s been a big help to us this year.”
“All of their runs came off errors or where we should have made plays; that’s kind of been the handicap of us all year,” East Jessamine coach Tom Hamm said. “We got to cut the errors out of the game.”
A single by Kelsey Garrett extended the inning, and an infield hit by Sarah Baker coupled with a throwing error allowed Jessica Baker and Garrett to score and push the lead to 5-1.
In the top of the seventh, Garrett, who was in the circle, got two quick outs before Haleigh Fain singled to center field. West got the last out as Fain attempted to steal second base during the next at bat but was thrown out retreating to first base.
Garrett allowed one run on six hits, four walks and a hit batter. She struck out one.
The Lady Colts took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning as Jessica Baker singled to left-center field to score Cross from second.
East tied the game 1-1 on fielder’s choice by Felicia Farmer, that scored Fain.
The Lady Jags fell to 5-13 on the season; they lost 11 games all of last season.
“I think we’ll turn things around. We’re a young team and play like a young team,” Hamm said. “I think they need to find a leader; that’s what they’re missing the most.”
The Lady Colts are 8-10; the win stops a three-game skid for West. Baker said for the first time this season all 18 players showed up ready to play and win, but in the end, this game was no different than any other and that West needed to show up like that for every game.
“We needed a turning point this season,” Baker said. “We’ve been on and off. Some days they play well; some days they don’t play well. Hopefully this will be turning point for us.”
West last defeated East Jessamine in 2009 with a 4-2 win in the district championship. West also won the regular-season duel that season.
