Emma Olejniczak took a no-hitter into the seventh inning and her teammates produced 12 hits of their own as Perry scored a 9-0 win in Raccoon River Conference softball Thursday.
Olejniczak hit a batter with a pitch in the fourth inning, yielded consecutive walks in the fifth and a one-out single to Sydne Struve in the seventh, but that was all as the junior ace tossed her 13th shutout of the season. She finished with five strikeouts in the win.
Perry (21-11, 5-9) wasted little time in moving the scoreboard, with Jo Diw ripping a lead-off triple in the bottom of the first inning. She scored on a Sid Vancil base hit, with Vancil stealing second and, after a fly out, moving to third when Rachel Kinney singled through the box.
Olejniczak reached on an outfield error that plated Vancil, with a Victoria Hegstrom single loading the bases. Maddy Jans walked to plate a run, which chased Ballard starter Danielle Mallas for Hannah Elliott, who promptly surrendered a RBI ground-out from Brooke Huntington before inducing a second ground out to end the frame with Perry holding a 4-0 lead.
Perry missed an opportunity to add to their lead when Kinney and Hegstrom were stranded after singles in the third inning, but a Diw singled, Vancil walk, Kruger RBI hit and a delayed double-steal pushed the Jayette advantage to 6-0 after four frames.
By then the Jayette defense had made several excellent plays. Jans made an acrobatic stab of a spinning short liner from her third base spot before making a clean pick-up off an odd hop while ranging to her left to throw out another batter. Second baseman Vancil made a diving stab deep in the hole to her left, then threw from her knees to retire another batter, with Hegstrom in left field and Kruger in center making running catches to keep the Bombers at bay.
The Jayettes added three bonus runs in the fifth, with Vancil ripping a two-run single, with Kruger adding a run-scoring hit moments later to account for the final scoring in the game.
Mallas was the losing pitcher after allowing four runs (two earned) on four hits and a walk in one-third of an inning. Elliott went 5.2 frames, yielding five runs (two earned) on eight hits, two walks and a hit batsman while striking out three.
Diw was 3-for-4 for the hosts with a triple and three runs scored. Vancil was 2-for-3 with three RBIs, two runs and a stolen base, with Kruger 2-for-4 with two RBIs and a steal while Kinney was 2-for-4 with a run. Hegstrom was on base in all four of her at-bats, twice reaching on singles while also reaching safely on an error while also being plunked with a pitch.
Olejniczak now has 247 strikeouts in 178.2 innings pitched with 59 walks issued. She fanned 261 and walked 54 in 198 total innings last season.
Vancil continues her torrid hitting and is clearly the batter showing the most marked improvement from last season. In 2015 she was 19-of-96 (.198) with four doubles, one triple and just five RBIs, numbers which have ballooned this season to 36-of-107 (.336), 11 doubles, a grand slam and a team-best 35 RBIs.
Perry will visit Pella Tuesday in a regular season finale. Greene County visits the PAC July 7 for a Class 4A Region 7 First Round contest, with the winner to face host Norwalk July 9. The R7 Final is July 12, with DC-G the highest-seed in the top half of the bracket.
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