Central's Nichols shuts out Jackson

The Tigers played errorless defense behind their freshman pitcher in a 1-0 victory.

The high school softball season is swiftly coming to its conclusion, which means there are few chances for teams to work out any remaining kinks.

For the Central Tigers, those kinks seem to be slowly disappearing, as evidenced by Wednesday's 1-0 shutout of rival Jackson.

The visiting Tigers played errorless defense, brought home the only run with a two-out hit and received a dominating performance on the mound from freshman Amanda Nichols.

Central improved to 6-19 with the win.

"I feel we are starting to peak at the right time," Central coach Amy Blattel said. "We're playing much better ball than at the beginning of the year."

Central has just one game remaining -- a home game today against Chaffee -- before starting district play next week. Two of Central's recent wins have come against district foes Sikeston and Jackson.

"We're probably going to be a little low in the seeding, which is OK," Blattel said. "We just have to string together three good ballgames, and I think we're capable."

Spearheading the Tigers' strong play of late have been their pitchers. Against the Indians, Nichols allowed just four hits and struck out 12. Jackson did not have more than one baserunner in any inning.

"We are playing better ball, and the main key to us playing better ball is our pitchers are throwing better," Blattel said.

Nichols set the tone early with seven strikeouts through three innings. In four of seven innings, Nichols struck out two or more batters, and she struck out at least one hitter in all seven innings.

"The key for Amanda is to continue to work and continue to master her control over the next three years and to get stronger so we can have a little more pop coming off the mound," Blattel said.

While the Indians' hitters only made contact half the time, Central's defense was sharp. The Tigers did not make any spectacular plays in the field, but they made the necessary plays.

"That's two games in a row where we actually had no errors," Blattel said. "Any time you do that, definitely you have to be pleased."

The lone run came in the second inning. Susie Edwards led off with a double down the left field line. A courtesy runner came on, and after a pop fly and a sacrifice bunt, Jamie Lester's bloop single on the deep infield was the game-winning RBI.

Edwards led Central's five-hit attack with a 2-for-3 performance.

"We seem to be getting the big hits when we need them," Blattel said. "The ball wasn't crushed, but it was hit to an open area and that's what we want to do with a runner on third."

Jordan Cook took the loss for the Indians despite allowing just five hits. Cook struck out two and walked none. Roxanna Miller had three of Jackson's four hits.

"We actually played a good seven innings for us, and Jordan pitched a really good game," Jackson coach Julie Rushing said. "Defensively, I was really pleased with our effort."

Jackson fell to 7-15 with the loss. The Indians have home games remaining against Festus and Kelly before district play.

"We're still kind of struggling," Rushing said. "In years past, we've turned the corner and played real well at district. It seems like it's been hard for us to put seven innings together."