It has been 16 long years since the Perry community caravanned north to Fort Dodge for the girls state softball tournament. The Jayettes are one win away from the school’s first state tournament appearance since 1999 when they host 3 time defending champion Dallas Center Grimes in a 7:00 Regional Final at the Perry Athletic Complex Tuesday night. Perry (23-12) will host the game since they were the highest remaining seeded team in Region 7. Dallas Center Grimes defeated Knoxville 10-0 Saturday to run their season record to 17-20.
The Fillies record can be misleading considering 12 of their 20 losses came to 5A programs, the state’s largest class division. DCG went 1-3 against Raccoon River Conference opponents losing to ADM twice and Winterset late in the year. They defeated Ballard 4-3 earlier in the season.
Perry and DCG have not played since the 2014 Regional Semifinal when the Fillies fended off a Perry upset with a run in the bottom of the 6th inning to defeat the Jayettes 1-0. The game was a pitching duel between current Jayette hurler Emma Olejniczak and current Missouri Tiger Paige Lowary.
Tuesday night’s game will be the biggest in the short history of the PAC. On Sunday, the Perry Jayette softball team led by Head Coach Tina Kenney, decorated their cars and drove around town tossing out candy with invitations attached to community to come on out and support the Jayettes.
“I know it would mean a lot to the kids to have a big crowd there Tuesday night,” added Kenney. “They have worked really hard and deserve this moment. This is why you work hard during the off season for moments like this.”
You can listen to the game on KDLS beginning at 6:40 Tuesday night. The game will also be streamed on raccoonvalleyradio.com.