In a wild offensive battle, the 15th ranked Perry Jayettes defeated Greene County 13-7 in the opening round of 4A Regional competition. The two teams combined for 22 hits in the offensive slugfest.
The Jayettes never trailed and appeared to be in control seizing an early 6-1 lead going into the bottom of the 4th inning. Greene County battled back to cut the deficit to 6-5 thanks in large part to a bases clearing double by Sidney Cook. After each team scored a run in the 5th, Perry put the game away with a massive 6th inning. The Jayettes sent 10 batters to the plate and scored 6 times off of 2 hits while taking advantage of 4 walks in the inning. Sophomore Johanna Diw capped off a rare natural cycle when she connected for a grand slam to power Perry to a comfortable lead.
Diw enjoyed a career night hitting for the cycle and knocking in 6 runs. A natural cycle is when you single, double, triple and launch a home run in that specific order. She added a walk in between the triple and home run.
“I was just seeing the ball really well tonight,” smiled Diw. “I normally don’t go to the right side because I typically pull the ball a lot. I have spent a lot of time hitting this offseason and I’m glad it’s helping the team win. It’s kind of funny because I was laughing in the dugout before the last at bat joking with the team saying it would be funny if I hit a home run. It was a great feeling.”
Sophomore Sidney Vancil added a pair of doubles and 2 RBI’s pushing her season total to a team high 37 RBI’s. Maddy Jans scored 3 runs while Maddie West earned 2 key walks to set up Perry rallies. Rachel Kinney added a first inning RBI along with a diving catch in right field late in the game.
Emma Olejniczak earned her 21st win on the season allowing 11 hits and 7 earned runs while striking out 7. She struck out the side in the 7th inning to end the game.
Carlee Paup and Megan Durbin each homered off Olejniczak while freshman Megan Carey finished 4-4.
Greene County closes out the year 16-14 while Perry improves to 22-12 and will travel to Norwalk Saturday night for a Regional Semifinal against the 7th ranked Warriors. You can listen to the game on KDLS beginning at 6:45.