Hauser girls dominate sectional; head to Edinburgh regional

As the ball flew high and deep toward the left-center field fence off the bat of the Jets’ Hannah Taylor in her first at bat, the only question was if it had enough to get out of the yard.

The answer was no, as the ball bounced off the top of the fence and back into the field of play.

Ultimately, that ended up being the only suspenseful moment in the Class A Sectional 60 Championship Game as Hauser overwhelmed Jac-Cen-Del in a five inning shellacking, 11-0 to win the trophy and advance to play Edinburgh for the regional title this Tuesday.

Taylor ended up with a double and was later singled home by Raegan Johnson with Hauser’s first run. The flood gates opened for the Jets in the second inning, effectively putting the game out of reach very early. Using seven straight hits, Hauser broke the game open scoring six runs to open up a 7-0 lead through two innings.

Zoee Nading, Kylie Mack, Hannah Johnson, Morgan Bottoms, and Kyra Meister all singled to begin the inning. Bottoms’ single scored Nading and Mack to give the Jets a 3-0 lead. This was followed by another Taylor double, which plated Bottoms. Jets’ pitcher Paige McDaniel then helped herself tripling, knocking in Meister and Taylor. In all, Hauser scored six runs before the Eagles recorded an out.

Hauser added three more runs in the bottom of the third, but this time the Jets scored all of their runs with two outs. Hannah Johnson doubled. She was brought to the plate by a Bottoms’ single, her third RBI of the game. Meister then singled and moved to second on an errant Eagles’ throw. This set the table for Taylor, who singled for her third hit of the game, driving in her second and third run to extend the Hauser lead to 10-0.

To make matters worse for Jac-Cen-Del, McDaniel was nearly unhittable in the circle. She pitched all five innings, striking out seven, not allowing a walk, and only giving up two singles.

“I felt pretty good tonight,” McDaniel said after the game. “I know that my defense has my back, so I didn’t have any nerves coming into the game at all.”

McDaniel certainly threw like she had ice water in her veins. Using mostly her fastball, she consistently blew the Eagle hitters away. When Jac-Cen-Del did make contact, it was usually weak, allowing the defense to make the necessary plays to shut out the Eagles.

Although they can celebrate a sectional championship, the class A second-ranked Jets know there is more work to be done as they will travel to Edinburgh to take on the Lancers for the regional title Tuesday night.
“We plan to worry about us and focus on us and play our game. We have that mindset no matter who we play,” Hauser coach Andy Brunner stated after the game.