WOODWARD — A dominating performance was followed by a game determined largely by defensive miscues as Perry finished 1-1 in the second day of the Woodward-Granger Classic Saturday.
Perry (9-7) was in total command of their first game, swatting 11 hits and holding their opposition to only two in a 9-0 win over Council Bluffs Abraham Lincoln in five innings due to a time limit. A four-run rally in the top of the fourth moved Perry into a 4-1 lead against Madrid in the final game of the tourney, but the Tigers used some timely hits and series of costly Jayette errors to scored three times in the fourth to tie the game and twice more in the fifth to open a 6-4 lead. Time expired with Madrid batting in the bottom of the sixth, giving the Tigers the victory.
Emma Olejniczak did anyone can ask from a starting pitcher in the game against the Lynx. She threw five innings of two-hit ball, issuing no walks and allowing no runs while recording all 15 outs by strikeout. She now has 134 strikeouts this season, with the junior running her career total to 697.
Perry scored twice in the bottom of the first and once in the second before adding four runs in the fourth and two more in the fifth.
Rachel Kinney had a double and a two-run home run while stealing a base, with Maddy Jans 2-for-2 with a double, RBI and steal. Jo Diw and Brooke Huntington were each 2-for-3 at the plate, with Olejniczak, Victoria Hegstrom and Sid Vancil adding singles.
Vancil pitched for Perry against Madrid and yielded a run in the first when lead off batter Hunter Raymond doubled off the fence in center and later scored on a ground ball.
Tiger southpaw Jordyn Achenbach had the Jayette batters off-stride for most of the game and dodged danger in the third by stranding Maddie West after the Jayette first baseman had tripled.
Perry got to Achenbach in the fourth when Maddy Jans Vancil and Alyssa Kruger reached on hits before Kinney crushed a three-run home run well over the 210-foot sign on the fence in dead center field to highlight a four-run spurt.
The Tigers used two clutch hits and a pair of costly Perry errors to tie the game with three runs in the bottom of the fourth.
Achenbach regained her form and kept the Jayettes from mounting a serious challenge in the next two innings.
By then the Tigers had taken a 6-4 lead thanks to another set of errors and two more timely hits. Madrid was batting in the bottom of the sixth when the 90-minute time limit expired, giving the Tigers the win.
Vancil yielded six runs — five of them unearned — on seven hits and a walk in five innings of work. She finished with five strikeouts while hitting a single and a double in her three at-bats.
Olejniczak had a double and Kruger stole a base to account for the remainder of the Perry offense.
Perry hosts Gilbert Tuesday before entertaining ADM — currently top-ranked but losers of two of their last four — Wednesday. The Tigers nipped the Jayettes, 2-0, in Adel earlier this season.
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