Jimmies softball splits doubleheader against Hastings

HASTINGS, NEB. — After playing 18 innings of softball on March 21, the University of Jamestown played six innings in a mercy rule shortened 11-3 loss on Saturday, April 22, at Hastings’ Smith Complex.

The Broncos galloped out to a quick lead as they put up a four spot in the second inning on a pair of two-run homers to take a 4-0 lead. The Jimmies got one back on a long ball of their own, courtesy of Angie Chin to cut the deficit to 4-1 in the third. In the bottom half of the third, the Broncos’ Kaytn Kappler hit an RBI single to push the lead out to 5-1.

The Broncos would add another one in the third and then two more in the fourth to push the lead out to 8-1. The Jimmies’ Samarah Martinez tried to get her team back into it with a two-run single to cut the deficit to 8-3. But, the Broncos would not be denied putting the game away with another run in the fifth and two more in the sixth to get the 11-3 win.

UJ 3, HC 11

UJ: 0 0 1 0 2 0–3 9 2

HC: 0 4 2 2 1 2–11 13 0

WP: Kyleigh Boever (11-6) LP: Hailey Schaefer (4-2)

Scoring plays:

Second inning:

HC: Katyn Kappler 2 run HR, Taylor Stuhr scores

HC: Rayleigh Guyer 2 run HR, Sam Skinner scores

Third inning:

UJ: Angie Chin solo HR

HC: Kappler RBI single, Lauren Schneider scores

HC: Guyer RBI single, Stuhr scores

Fourth inning:

HC: Schenider HR, unearned, Lexie Mudloff scores, unearned

Fifth inning:

UJ: Samarah Martinez 2 run single, Chin, Gentrey Turin scores

HC: Sydney Schelkopf RBI single, Guyer scores

Sixth inning:

HC: Schneider 2 run HR, Mudloff scores

It didn’t take long for the Jimmies' offense to explode in game two as they scored four runs in the top of the first on their way to a 16-9 win over the Broncos.

In total, the teams’ 25 combined runs came on 38 hits.

“I expected Abby Blair to pitch well and us to control the game in the second game,” Jimmies head coach Kevin Gall said. “But she didn’t feel great so we relied on Hailey Schaefer to get us through the game and took it one inning at a time and we kept putting up runs for her. So, it ended up with a decisive victory.”

Two batters into the game, the Jimmies’ Martinez hit a double and she was eventually brought home on a Mackenzie Lefebvre two-run single to push the lead out to 2-0. The next batter was Ally Battistoni who hit a three-run shot to stretch the lead out to 4-0. It was the sophomore’s first career homer.

The Broncos (17-21, 11-9) struck back in the bottom of the first when they took a 5-4 lead on six hits, including a three-run homerun from Lexie Mudloff. The Jimmies (21-17, 8-8) tied it up in the second before taking the lead in the third at 8-5. After the Broncos cut the deficit to 8-7, the Jimmies responded with runs in the fifth and the sixth innings to stretch the lead out to 11-7.

In the bottom of the sixth, the Broncos’ Kappler continued to punish the Jimmies hurlers as she hit a run-scoring single to center to cut the deficit to 11-8. That was Kappler’s final run-scoring contribution of the day as she finished the two games going 6-for-7 with seven RBIs, two runs and one home run.

The Jimmies officially put the game out of reach in the seventh when they scored five runs, punctuated by a Camryn Schwab homer, which gave them a 13-8 lead, in what wound up being a 16-8 advantage.

Despite giving up a run in the seventh to make it 16-9, Gall decided to stick with his pitcher Hailey Schaefer to get the final out of the game and secure the win. Schaefer was used a lot over the Jimmies weekend series that started on April 21. Over the two days, Schaefer went 17 innings, throwing 237 pitches, giving up nine earned runs on 20 hits, and striking 12 hitters.

“We’ll need the rest and we’ll need good weather,” Gall said. “The girls have been training all year for basically the end of the year, to play well at the end of the year. So, durability if it’s a question, I guess we gotta rethink how we do things. But, this is it, we should be set and ready to go. We should be feeling as good as we can feel at this point in the season.”

The Jimmies are hoping to play their home opener at 2 p.m. on Wednesday, April 26, against Midland University.

UJ 16, HC 9

UJ: 4 1 3 0 2 1 5–16 21 1

HC: 5 0 0 2 0 1 1–9 17 1

WP: Hailey Schaefer (5-2), LP: Sophia Haverkamp (0-3)

Scoring plays:

First inning:

UJ: Mackenzie Lefebvre RBI single, Martinez scores

UJ: Ally Battistoni 3 run HR, Lefebvre, Maddie Spaeth score

HC: Lexie Mudloff 3 run HR, Elana Gerhard, Macie Mays score

HC: Guyer RBI single, Kappler scores

Second inning:

UJ: Spaeth solo HR

Third inning:

UJ: Martinez RBI single, Chin scores

UJ: Spaeth 2 run single, Martinez, Gregg score

Fourth inning:

HC: Kappler 2 run single, Mudloff, Mays score

Fifth inning:

UJ: Lefebvre 2 run HR, Martinez scores

Sixth inning:

UJ: Spaeth reaches on an error, Chin scores, unearned

HC: Kappler RBI single, Mudloff scores

Seventh inning:

UJ: Camryn Schwab 2 run HR, Battistoni scores

UJ: Martinez RBI single, Kayla Quintanilla scores

UJ: Spaeth 2 run double, Martinez, Chin score