BOONE — Perry senior Emma Olejniczak struck out the first eight batters she saw Thursday, helping No. 7 Perry (5-2, 3-1) claim a 3-0 win over 12th-ranked Boone (4-3, 1-3) in Raccoon River Conference softball.
Olejniczak had fanned 14 of the first 18 batters to step into the box through six innings. Speedy Boone senior Dianna Slight — a multi-medalist in sprints at the state track meet — opened the bottom of the seventh by barely beating out a bunt hit to spoil both the no-hitter and the perfect game.
A pop up to Sid Vancil at second base was the first out of the frame, with a walk issued to Laura Anderson putting two runners aboard, but harmless pop outs to T.J. Sheehy at third base and to Maddie West at first base sealed the masterpiece.
The win was the 100th for Jayette head coach Tina Kenney and was the third straight for Perry after consecutive losses to No. 5 Winterset and Norwalk.
Perry scored in the fourth when Vancil singled, moved up a base on a sacrifice bunt from Alyssa Kruger and raced home from first on a RBI-single from Rachel Kinney.
Maddie West singled home Kruger in the sixth, with consecutive doubles from Jo Diw and Vancil in the seventh providing the third Perry run.
Vancil was 3-for-4 with a RBI and run scored, with Diw adding a single and a double while scoring once, with Kruger also touching the plate. West was 2-for-3 with a RBI, with Kinney adding a RBI single and Sheehy a base hit.
Perry hosts their annual tourney Saturday at the PAC. The Jayettes open play at 9:30 a.m. against Class 2A No. 1 Interstate-35, with IKM-Manning to face Van Meter at 11:15 a.m. The consolation game will begin at 1 p.m. with the title game to start at 2:45 p.m. Aside from the opening contest all start times are approximate.
