Perry stranded eight runners on base Friday — three of them at third base and two others at second — while visiting Norwalk took advantage of their far fewer chances to post a 4-3 win over the Jayettes in their non-conference tilt.
For the third consecutive game an opponent hit the ball out of the park, with Norwalk pitcher Alyx Witt crushing a gigantic blast to right-center with one out in the top of the first inning. The bomb scored Amron Born, who had opened the game with a clean single.
Witt’s dinger was the last hit the Warriors would produce until two were out in the sixth inning, when Shelbi Stogdill singled home both Briley Sodergren and Witt, each of whom had drawn walks off Perry starter Emma Olejniczak.
The Jayette senior had been stout in the ring after the initial shock of the first inning as she issued two walks but struck out five after the Witt homer to keep her team in range.
Perry (2-2, 0-1), who entered the game ranked fifth in Class 4A, squandered repeated opportunities to take control of the contest. Jo Diw opened the first with a single and was left on third after reaching the bag with one out. Oljeniczak singled and Maddie West reached on a sacrifice/fielder’s choice as the first two runners were aboard in the second, but they were left standing on second and third after a bunt put both in scoring position with one out.
Diw reached third with one out in the third but was again left unscored before Olejniczak took matters into her own hands with a double to open the fourth. West singled to score the run, with Olejniczak — who opted not to slide — narrowly missed by the swiping tag attempt of catcher Tess Palmer.
Perry tied the game in the second when Sid Vancil hit a one-out single and sped home from first an out later on Rachel Kinney’s double to the fence in right-center. Olejniczak walked to put two aboard, but neither went sent to across the plate.
Norwalk seized the lead in the sixth on Stogdill’s clutch two-out, two-run single, with the home half of the sixth the only at-bat for Perry in which the hosts did not put at least one runner on base.
Diw singled to start the seventh and moved to second on a throwing error, then advanced to third on a ground out. Alyssa Kruger’s ground out plated Diw to cut the gap to 4-3, with Kinney singling to keep the chances alive, but a pop out ended the game.
The win was the sixth for Norwalk in the last seven meetings between the two teams, the sole exception being Perry’s 7-1 win in the substate semifinal last summer, a game in which the Jayettes ripped Witt for seven runs on five hits in the second inning.
Witt yielded three runs on eight hits Friday but collected the win in the ring. She struck out three and walked one.
Olejniczak was touched for four earned runs on just three hits. She walked four and finished with eight strikeouts.
Perry hosts ADM Tuesday before a Wednesday trip to Carroll and a Thursday visit to Boone when they resume action next week.
