DECORAH — A long trip to the northeastern corner of the state provided for fun both on and off the diamond for the Perry softball team.
The Jayettes (13-16) journeyed Friday to Decorah as part of the eight-team Vikings Tournament. The team stayed in dorms on the Luther College campus and even had time for a lunch with members of the Olejniczak family, who served as unofficial “hosts” for the Perry team.
Perry returned the hospitality by topping the hosts, 5-3, in the third-place game. They had opened the competition with a 2-0 win over Waukon, they dropped a tough 1-0 game in eight innings to Kee High.
The Kee-Hawks went on to defeat St. Ansgar, 5-1, in the title game.
The Jayettes blanked the Indians thanks to two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning. A Sidney Vancil single started the rally, with Rachel Kinney reaching for the second time in the game on an error. Alyssa Kruger smacked a single to score Vancil, with Kinney racing home when the throw to nail her at third base went awry.
Kruger was 3-for-3 in the win, with Vancil and Kinney adding base hits.
Emma Olejniczak went four innings in the circle, allowing one hit and striking out eight. Kruger earned the win in relief after yielding a hit while fanning two in three innings of work.
Olejniczak, Kinney and Maddie West had the only three hits for Perry against Kee (Lansing) High.
The Kee-Hawks scored in the top of the eighth to slip away with the win. Both teams began their at-bats in the eighth with a runner on second (via the international rule), but Perry could not answer and suffered the loss.
Olejniczak went all eight frames on the rubber, allowing the one run on five hits and one walk. She finished with nine strikeouts.
The Jayettes jumped on the host Vikings in the third-place game by plating a pair of runs in each of their first two innings at-bat. Decorah scored once in the fourth and twice in the fifth to close to within 4-3, but a Victoria Hegstrom solo home run in the bottom of the frame gave Perry an insurance run and set the final score.
Kruger walked and Olejniczak was hit by a pitch to start the Perry first. Kinney drove in Kruger with a base hit, with a sacrifice fly from Sidney Vancil scoring Olejniczak.
Brooke Huntington singled and Maddy Jans reached safely to spark the Perry second. Olejniczak singled home one run and Kinney another to help create the early 4-0 bulge.
Vancil earned the win after throwing four innings. She surrendered a run on five hits and struck out two. Kruger pitched the 5-6-7 frames, yielding two unearned runs on one hit while striking out three.
Perry hosts Bondurant-Farrar tonight and will play in a varsity doubleheader at Ballard Thursday before taking the three-day holiday weekend off.
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First Round
Decorah 10, Central Elkader 4
St. Ansgar 10, Turkey Valley 9 (8)
Perry 2, Waukon 0
Kee High 1, Osage 0
Semifinals
St. Ansgar 5, Decorah 4
Kee High 1, Perry 0 (8)
Consolation Semifinals
Turkey Valley 10, Central Elkader 1
Waukon 11, Osage 5
Fifth Place
Waukon 11, Turkey Valley 3
Third Place
Perry 5, Decorah 3
Championship
Kee High 5, St. Ansgar 1
