Still unbeaten, and now in the no. 7 spot in the state Class A rankings, the Jamesville-DeWitt softball team keeps surviving tense challenges from OHSL Freedom division foes.
After a pair of one-run wins over Mexico on May 2, the Red Rams faced Fulton last Monday and found itself going beyond regulation and needing nine innings to edge past the Red Raiders 1-0.
For eight long innings, J-D ace Kerri Keeler and Fulton pitcher Mikayla Guernsey dueled it out, neither one of them blinking. The Rams had more chances in those eight innings, but Guernsey pitched out of them.
Meanwhile, Keeler was tossing a one-hitter, the only blemish an Anna Geurnsey single, but Keeler got into trouble in the top of the ninth, putting two Fulton runners on base before getting out of it and climax her eight-strikeout, two-out effort.
The Rams didn’t get in front until the bottom of the ninth, when Maggie Austin walked, moved to third base and then saw and Alexis Cantor, single, her second hit of the single, which brought Austin home with the winning run. It was just J-D’s third hit off Mikayla Geurnsey all afternoon.
To its credit, J-D didn’t have a letdown on Tuesday, beating Homer 6-1. A three-run first inning put the Red Rams in charge as Robens hit a home run and earned a pair of RBIs. Emily Clapper also had an RBI as Keeler, who doubled and drove in two runs, held the Trojans to two hits and managed 12 strikeouts.
And to further prove that the Rams were still the team to beat, it faced Christian Brothers Academy on Wednesday afternoon and, with Keeler again in top form, never let the Brothers on the board, prevailing 14-0 as a six-run second inning broke it open.
While Keeler and Alexis Hale combined on a three-hit shutout, Austin, Paige Sherling and Hanna Gunther each scored three runs. Keeler and Austin drove in two runs apiece, with Robens, Carly O’Hern and Alexis Cantor each getting one RBI.
The long, tough stretch of five games in four days continued Thursday for J-D with a doubleheader sweep of Syracuse West, starting with a tough 4-3 opener and concluding with a 12-1 nightcap in this pair of five-inning contests, helping head coach Phil DeAugustine surpass 300 career wins.
Trailing 3-1 late in the opener, the Rams needed three runs in the bottom of the fourth to pull it out for Robens, who took a turn in the pitcher’s circle. Keeler still contributed at the plate, though, with two hits and an RBI as Austin, Paige Sherling and Julia Fairbanks also drove in runs.
The nightcap proved far less stressful, J-D pounding out 15 hits, four of them by Austin, while Erika Siegel stepped up with three hits and three RBIs. Sherling drove in two runs as Fairbanks and Hale split pitching duties, holding East to two hits and combining to strike out 10.
