HOPE — A three-run homer by East Central in the second inning Wednesday left Hauser playing catch-up for the rest of the game before coming one base hit away from possibly executing a late comeback.
A four-run second inning propelled the Trojans to a 5-4 win in eight innings.
The Class A No. 6 Jets got on the board first with a Tessa Sims RBI-single in the first inning before East Central tied the game with a single in the top of the second. Alexis Vo then hit the ball over the fence for with two runners on base for to put Hauser in a 4-1 hole.
“All three of them probably go in the book as hits, but all three of them balls could have probably been caught too,” Hauser coach Craig Sims of the three Trojans base hits. “And then we give up the home run.”
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]Click here to purchase photos from this gallery
The Jets (10-4) kept the Trojans (14-2) off the board for the rest of the seven innings. It wasn’t until Sydney Schoen got on second base on an East Central error that put Hannah Johnson on third in the sixth inning when Hauser started to set itself up for a comeback.
A sacrifice fly from Hunter Crain allowed Johnson score with two out. Lauryn Starnes got on base with an RBI-single that closed the lead to 4-3 heading into the seventh.
Tessa Sims, who pitched the entire game for the Jets, retired East Central in the top of the seventh and to give Hauser a chance to tie or win the game. Two quick put the Jets on the verge of losing in seven innings, but Sims came through with an RBI-single on a 2-2 pitch to keep Hauser alive.
Shelby Fugate, who hadn’t been on base all game to that point, followed behind Sims. Fugate stepped to the plate and got strikes on the first two pitches. Fugate wasn’t bothered by the pressure, and she drilled a triple to right that allowed Sims to tie the game with the fourth run.
“Those (two hits) are game changers,” Craig Sims said. “If we do that even half of our opportunities in the first half of this ball game, it’s a different outcome. (Tuesday) night in Greensburg, it was the same situation. We left six standing in scoring position with two outs. That two-out mentality has to be different than coming to the plate with nobody on and no outs. That’s what close ballgames are made of.”
Fugate’s RBI pushed it to an extra inning, but Lindsey Henson smacked the second home run for the Trojans to give them the lead back at 5-4.
Schoen led off the bottom of the eight by getting on base with a single before stealing second base. Schoen reached third on a Starnes groundout. That left freshman Zoee Nading at the plate with two out and a chance to for the game-tying RBI.
Nading put the bat on the ball on the first two swings that resulted in two foul balls. The next pitch was a ball, followed by contact from Nading that sent the ball into foul territory in left field, but a diving catch by East Central ended the Jets’ hopes of a comeback.
Tessa Sims finished with 12 strikeouts and went 3 for 4 at the plate to lead the Jets’ nine-hit attack.
Craig Sims said he loved the fight his team showed in the final couple of innings.
“I told them I was proud of them for not giving in,” he said. “When we talked about it before the game, I said we have to find a way to win because that’s what we didn’t do (Tuesday) night. I thought they gave it everything they had. We tried to find a way to win. It just didn’t work out for us.”
