The Jordan
softball team improved to 14-1 on the season with a stunning come-from-behind
victory over Delano on Friday, May
9.

The Jaguars trailed 6-0 after two
innings but fought back to tie the game at 7-7 and eventually won it in the
eighth.

With the score tied at 7-7 in the eighth inning, Stephanie Gosse
reached base on an error by Delano’s
shortstop with one out. Paige Hotchkiss pinch ran for Gosse. After a Courtney
Kochlin sacrifice bunt moved Hotchkiss to third after Delano’s
pitcher made a throwing error.

Delano’s first
baseman tracked the errant throw down and threw home to stop Hotchkiss from
coming home. Delano’s catcher than
threw the ball back to the pitcher to face the next batter. That is when
Hotchkiss took off for home. She beat the throw and the tag and scored the
game-winning run.

“We noticed that the catcher after throwing the ball back to
catcher would put her head down and turn away from the play,” head coach Bryan
Martin said.

Hotchkiss would not have been able to make that heads up play if
the team didn’t battle back. Delano
scored a run in the first inning and five more in the second to take a 6-0 lead
after two inning off of pitcher Nikki Shutrop.

Jordan
cut the lead to 6-2 in the second innings when Kelsey Pekarna and Gosse scored.
In the third inning, Kelsey Kes, Jordan Puls and Nora Hamer scored to cut the
lead to 6-5.

In the fourth, Delano
went up 7-5 only to see Jordan
score twice in the bottom of the inning to tie the game. Kes and Pekarna scored
the runs in the fourth.

Both pitchers settled down and didn’t allow a run for three
inning until the heads-up play by Hotchkiss.

Montgomery-Lonsdale

There was no need for late inning heroics against
Montgomery-Lonsdale on Wednesday, May 7 as Shutrop pitched a brilliant game.

Shutrop shutout the Redbirds and the Jaguars won 9-0. She
strikeout 13 batters while giving up only one hit.

“Nikki had great command of the strike zone and got ahead of the
batters and had good control of her pitches,” Martin said.

The offense scored twice in the first inning when Katie Moriarty
and Sam Pieper scored on single by Pekarna.

Morairty scored again in the third inning to push the lead to
3-0. The Jaguars scored three more times in both the sixth and seventh innings
to give Shutrop more than enough run support.

Holy Family

The next day the Jaguars easily defeated Holy Family 9-2.

Jordan
fell behind 2-1 after the first inning but exploded for six runs in the second
inning and two more in the third.

In the second inning, Moriarty, Kes, Pekarna, Hamer, Gosse and
Hotchkiss scored. Hamer and Hotchkiss also scored in the third inning.

Moriarty pitched a great game for the Jaguars as she didn’t
allow a run after the first inning. In fact, Holy Family only got two base
runners after the first inning.

“She did a great job of getting out or trouble in the first
inning and than really settled in,” Martin said.