CARROLL — Sophomore hurler Emma Olejniczak recorded 16 strikeouts and junior Victoria Hegstrom drove in four runs with a pair of doubles as Perry defeated Carroll, 8-2, in Raccoon River Conference softball Wednesday.
Perry (1-2, 1-1) had not played since a 4-1 loss to Norwalk Friday, a game in which Olejniczak struck out 14. The Jayettes had eight hits but could not string them together and scored just once, wasting a strong effort in the circle from their ace.
That was not the situation Wednesday, as the Jayettes jumped to a 3-0 lead in the first frame. Olejniczak helped herself with a hustling double on a short fly ball, with an Alyssa Kruger RBI-single, a Hegstrom RBI-double and a Tiger error staking Perry to an early lead.
Carroll scored twice in their first at-bat to narrow the margin, with both runs unearned. From that point onward it was all Olejniczak, who, aside from the two unearned runs, yielded just four hits and a walk over seven innings.
Sidney Vancil tripled and scored on a Brooke Huntington base hit as Perry pushed their lead to 4-2 in the third, with a four-run fifth all but settling the issue.
The big rally started with Vancil reaching on an error and eventually scoring on a Huntington single. Grace Marburger entered as a courtesy runner, with sacrifice bunts from Maddie West and Johanna Diw surrounding walks to Olejniczak and Kruger that loaded the bases.
Hegstrom then cleaned the bags with a three-run double to left for an 8-2 Perry lead and the Jayettes cruised from there.
The Jayettes received two doubles and four RBIs from Hegstrom and two RBI-singles from Huntington while Kruger had two singles and a RBI and Katelyn Whelchel a double and a RBI. West and Rachel Kinney had base hits, with Olejniczak hitting a single and a double while Vancil tripled.
Perry is at Boone Thursday and hosts ADM Friday.
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PERRY 8, CARROLL 2
Team R H E
PRY 301 040 0 — 8 12 4
CAR 200 000 0 — 2 4 4
PRY: Olejniczak and Huntington. WP: Olejniczak (1-2). 2B — PRY: Hegstrom 2, Olejniczak, Whelchel. 3B — PRY: Vancil.