HUXLEY — Perry traveled to Ballard for their final pair of Raccoon River Conference softball games this season and left with a split after dropping the opener, 6-0, before bouncing back for a 9-4 win in the nightcap.
After playing excellent defense Wednesday in a 2-1 win over Bondurant-Farrar, Perry committed five errors in the first game and six the second. The difference was the Jayette bats, which came alive for 12 hits in the second game after generating just four hits in the first contest.
Ballard scored once in the first and twice in the third inning of the first tilt for a 3-0 lead, a margin that swelled to 6-0 after three runs crossed the plate in the fourth.
Emma Olejniczak allowed six hits and four walks in the loss. She struck out four and was let down by a defense that surrendered five unearned runs.
Olejniczak had a single and double, with base hits from Rachel Kinney and Katelyn Whelchel accounting for the Perry offense.
The Jayette bats came alive in the nightcap.
Johanna Diw walked and moved to third after a passed ball and a Olejniczak single, with a RBI-fielder’s choice with Kinney batting giving Perry a 1-0 lead.
Olejniczak singled, Alyssa Kruger walked and Whelchel singled to load the bases for the Jayettes in the third. Sidney Vancil and Brooke Huntington each drove in a run with consecutive singles, with the big blow a bases-clearing three-run triple from Grace Marburger. Diw’s RBI-single moments later pushed the Perry lead to 7-0.
Ballard scored twice in their portion of the third and added two runs in the fourth, but Perry countered with two runs in the top of the fifth to secure the win.
Singles from Huntington and Diw started the rally, with Olejniczak drawing a walk. Kinney was hit by a pitch to force in a Huntington, with Diw scoring when Kruger reached on an error.
Vancil went 3-1/3 innings in the circle for the win. She allowed four runs (two earned) on five hits and one hit batsman. Olejniczak collected a save in 3-2/3 frames of relief. The sophomore walked one, allowed two hits and struck out four.
Olejniczak was 3-for-4 with a double, with Huntington 3-for-4 and Diw 2-for-4. Marburger had a triple and three RBIs, with Kinney collecting two RBIs while Kruger, Whelchel and Vancil added base hits.
Perry will visit Des Moines Christian Monday before hosting Pella Tuesday in their regular season finale. They travel to face host Boone Thursday in a Class 4A Region 2 First Round game, with the winner to visit No. 3 Carlisle July 11. The Regional Final is July 14 in Carlisle, with No. 14 Humboldt, Webster City and No. 12 DC-G — the defending 4A state champion — in the bottom half of the bracket.
