YOU ARE HERE: Central Kentucky Home→Collections→West Jessamine

East Jessamine softball gets past West 10-0 in six innings

Softball

May 23, 2012|By Jonathan Stark | jstark@jessaminejournal.com

Photo by Jonathan Stark/jstark@jessaminejournal.com

Despite a rough start to this season, East Jessamine’s softball team finds itself heading to the district championship again with a 10-0 win over rival West Jessamine on Tuesday night.

“We had some growing pains ... but they’ve just really turned it around,” East Jessamine coach Tom Hamm said.

The game was originally slated to be played at Burgin at 6 p.m., but afternoon rain showers flooded Burgin’s field and the game was moved to Mercer at the last minute and given a 7 p.m. start time.

The late adjustment didn’t affect East as the Lady Jaguars jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning and led 5-0 after two frames.

Haylee Hamm drove in a run in the first inning to help her effort in the circle. Hamm ended up scattering three hits over five innings and striking out six batters.

“I told her she just had to come out and throw the ball well and give us a shot to win,” coach Hamm said.

“(Haylee Hamm) wanted to live on the ball that was upstairs, and we wanted to chase in the beginning, and I told them that they can’t live there; they have to live in your strike zone, and we just weren’t ever able to settle in,” West Jessamine coach Michelle Baker said.

Haleigh Fain also drove in a run in the bottom of the first and ended the day with three hits, including a triple, and three runs batted in.

“That was a big hit there to basically ice the game,” Hamm said. “She’s been hitting the ball well all year. The middle of our lineup has been strong all year and really even the bottom of it lately has started going.”

East took a 6-0 lead in the fourth inning as Sarah Rainwater was caught stealing second and Shaylin Pryse stole home from third base.

Hamm continued her strong outing in the circle, retiring eight straight batters between the third and fifth innings.

Back-to-back doubles by East to open the fifth inning plated another run, and it looked as if the Lady Jags might end the game in five innings. However, a nifty 6-3-5 double play by the Lady Colts got them two quick outs and ended the East threat.

Fain hit a two-run triple in the bottom of the sixth inning to make it 9-0, and Olivia Day ended the game with a run-scoring single.

West ends the season with a record of 8-28, 5-12 in the region and 2-4 in the district.

“We are a very young team, and we’ve had a lot of injury and a lot of stuff to go through,” Baker said. “I look foward to getting them all back in the future. We need a lot of discipline and we need a lot of work.”

The win put East at 18-18 overall with a shot at its third straight district championship.

|

|

|