BISMARCK, N.D. — When your two pitchers combine for 28 strikeouts, it's usually a good day.
But really, at this point, any day is a good day when you can get outside and play.
"It was fun playing today," JHS head softball coach Mike Soulis said. "Unfortunately we had to travel 100 miles to play at a team that is30 minutes away from us but we did what we needed to do — we got to play some softball and that was good."
The Blue Jay softball team dismantled Valley City 11-1, 12-0 in a nonconference doubleheader on Monday afternoon. The win puts the Jays at 2-2 overall. The Blue Jays' first conference game of the year is scheduled for April 18 against Bismarck High at the Sanford Sports Complex in the capital city.
Senior pitcher Katie Falk started game No. 1 for the Blue Jays. The senior threw all six innings and allowed one run on four hits and walked three. She retired 15 of the 25 batters she faced.
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Makenna Nold took over in game No 2.
The junior tossed five innings struck out 13 of 24 batters faced, allowed just three hits and zero runs. Nold walked five batters and threw for a total of 67 strikes in her 114 pitches.
"That's the difference between being in the strike zone and not," Soulis said. "When you can challenge hitters and stuff is working for you, as a team — and as a pitcher — you are in a much better spot than being all over the place.
"Our girls were dialed in today and challenged some hitters and it ended up being a pretty good outcome for us," he said.
But it wasn't just the Jays' work on the mound that got it done Monday.
Valley was leading the Jays 1-0 headed into the top of the first, but a single from Torrie Mack caused a whole lot of confusion in the field for the Hi-Liners and allowed Jada Walter, Rylee Joseph and Ella Falk to score and make it 3-1 Blue Jays.
The Jays didn't give up the lead the rest of the way.
Ella Falk went 3-for-4 and notched a pair of RBIs while Addison Graves was .500 at the plate with another couple of runs batted in. Mack went 2-for-3 in the batter's box, Leah Trumbauer drilled 1-of-2 and Avery Graves was a perfect 1-for-1.
Scoring the go-ahead run just seemed to be Ella's bread and butter Monday.
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The Jays had one out on the board and the bases loaded in the top of the first in game No. 2. Mack grounded into a fielder's choice, allowing Ella just enough time to get home and make it a 1-0 ball game.
The Blue Jays followed Ella's score up with two more in the first, four in the third and finished it off with five in the fourth. The Jays scored 12 runs off six hits and recorded just one error out in the field.
Ella was 2-for-3 with a double and a pair of RBIs in game No. 2. Walter and Joseph also drove in runners off of their 1-for-4 and 1-for-3 performances at the plate.
"We were aggressive at the plate when we needed to be, we were disciplined enough to not swing at pitches that weren't in the strike zone. We didn't have any strikeouts
looking today and we played solid defense so that was a positive.
"We've got to be better tomorrow. If we do what we are capable of doing and control our controllable stuff, I'll take our outcome and we'll go from there."
Jamestown 11, Valley City 1
VC 100 000 X — 1 4 1
JHS 310 034 X — 11 9 0
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JHS: Katie Falk; VC: S. Larsen, No. 25 (4); W — Falk; L — S. Larsen
Highlights: JHS — Falk (6 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 15 K); Ella Falk 3-4, 2 RBI; Addison Graves 2-4, 2 RBI; Torrie Mack 2-3, 2 RBI; Avery Graves 1-1, Leah Trumbauer 1-2.
VC — H. Thoreson 1-3; J. Nelson 1-2; B. Leroux 1-3, RBI.
Jamestown 12, Valley City 0
JHS 304 50X X — 12 6 1
VC 000 00X X — 0 3 0
JHS: Makenna Nold; VC: Jewett, J. Nelson (4); W — Nold; L — S. Jewett
Highlights: JHS — Nold (5 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 5 BB, 13 K); Ella Falk 2-3, 2B, 2 RBI; Rylee Joseph 1-3, RBI; Jada Walter 1-4, RBI; A. Graves 1-1; Sophia Bond 1-2.
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VC — J. Nelson 1-2; J. Klein 1-3; Ask 1-2
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