On a night that saw Perry senior Emma Olejniczak earn her 1000th strikeout of her career, the Perry Jayette offense struggled to find its rhythm falling to Ballard 2-1 in a pivotal Raccoon River Conference softball game.  The loss was a big blow for Perry’s chances of winning the conference as it now puts them 3 full games behind the first place Bombers.

Ballard scored an unearned run in the first inning and came away with the game winning run in the third inning on an Abby Carlin single.   Perry scored their lone run on the second pitch of the game as Johanna Diw blasted her team leading 6th homerun of the year.

Missed opportunities continue to haunt the Perry team in their early season losses.  The Jayettes stranded 8 runners on base and twice had runners at second and third with nobody out and failed to bring in a single run.  Perry’s Rachel Kinney was tagged out at home trying to score on a Jayette bunt while later in the game Perry bunted into a double play which killed a potential scoring rally.

Olejniczak made history in the 2nd inning when she struck out Isabella Brown to earn her 1000th career strikeout.  She ended up with 10 strikeouts on the night and retired 13 of the final 16 batters she faced.  Olejniczak will be presented a plaque next Thursday prior to the start of Perry’s next home game.  Ballard youngster Abby Carlin used a devastating off speed pitch and drop ball to keep the Perry batters off balance all night long.

The youngest team in the conference continues to be the early season surprise.  Ballard which starts 4 freshmen and 2 sophomores run their conference record to 5-0 and 14-2.  Perry falls to 4-3 in RRC play and 9-4 overall.

Perry will travel to Woodward today for 2 more games.  They will play Lewis Central at 12 noon and Madrid at 4.