Blue Jays drop openers to Hi-Liners

The opening doubleheader for the Jamestown High School fastpitch team was expectedly challenging.

The Blue Jays had trouble keeping Valley City off the board as the Hi-Liners won 19-6 and 14-3.

Valley City’s program is further along than Jamestown’s, so it was another learning experience.

Coach Mike Soulis saw some positives for his first-year varsity team.

“I thought we made some good adjustments from the first game to the second. That will be the theme for us in that we want to get better game-to-game, week-to-week,” he said. “For the most part our pitchers threw strikes. Defensively we didn’t make a lot of mistakes and the girls kept that upbeat, positive attitude. Kids weren’t getting on each other when we made mistakes.”

Besides the two losses, they were dealt a major blow when sophomore first baseman Paige Peterson suffered a broken collarbone in Game 2 after colliding with catcher Stacey Fritz. Peterson, who batted clean-up in both games, will be lost for the season.

“It’s a tough deal. It was just two girls going after the ball. They didn’t hit real hard, just one of those things that happens, unfortunately,” Soulis said. “Obviously it’s a big loss. She’s a quality kid and a really good athlete.”

Ashley Meier had a good day at the plate for the Blue Jays, going 3-for-5 total including a 2-for-3 outing in the nightcap.

Kayla Thoele, the pitcher in Game 2, scored twice and reached base three times.

In the opener, Kadie Anderson, Meier, Kyra Dewald, Peterson, Savannah Windish and Thoele each scored runs.

Valley City had 10 hits in the first game and nine in the second.

The Blue Jays play their home-opener on Tuesday against Turtle Mountain, a team they beat last season when both were playing JV only programs.

Valley City 19, Jamestown 6

Jamestown 001 05 — 6 2 1

Valley City 3(11)0 14 — 19 10 0

Kadie Anderson and Ashley Meier. Diegel, Denholm (5) and Diegel. W—Diegel. L—Anderson

Valley City 14, Jamestown 3

Jamestown 100 02 — 3 5 0

Valley City 732 2x — 14 9 0

Kayla Thoele and Stacey Fritz. Tangen and Diegel. W—Tangen. L—Thoele.

— Dave Selvig

Tags: sports, jays, softball