Jackson christens softball season with win over Chaffee

~ The Indians needed eight innings to defeat Chaffee 3-1.

Jackson senior Sheila Wade surrendered just one unearned run on four hits over eight innings Monday to lead the Indians past Chaffee 3-1 in both squads' season opener.

"I think she came out and did a good job," Jackson coach Amanda Forester said. "She started toward the later innings working ahead of her batters and that definitely helped things out."

It was a pitchers' duel from start to finish. In the early innings, Wade was overshadowed by Red Devils junior Madeline Kiefer, who retired 12 of the first 14 batters she faced. Jackson batters struggled hitting Kiefer's changeup. Their early swings led to many ground ball outs.

"All summer we've been hitting against faster pitching and she was a little slower than what we've been used to," Jackson leadoff hitter Hana Bolen said.

Chaffee catcher Hannah Bedwell forced out Jackson baserunner Hana Bolen before throwing to first in Chaffee on Monday afternoon, August 20, 2007. (Kit Doyle)

While Kiefer was cruising, Wade and Bolen dug their team into an early hole. The Indians escaped a second-inning jam as Chaffee stranded runners at second and third base. But Jackson gave Chaffee the lead in the third inning when Bolen let a hard ground ball off the bat of catcher Hannah Bedwell roll between her legs. It was one of two errors Bolen made.

The fielding flaw plated Heather Thomason from third and gave Chaffee a 1-0 advantage. Wade struggled with her control during the second and third innings, keeping the ball too high in the zone and allowing Chaffee hitters to make solid contact.

"Something finally clicked on in me that I should start getting ahead of my batters," Wade said. "It was a gradual thing. I kept getting mad and then finally got my head into it.

"At the beginning I had a few high ones, but he [the umpire] would not give me anything low. I kind of tried to work it but I just ended up going too high. So finally I was like, 'Forget about it,' and I just started throwing them low and I started getting some calls and getting them in the right spots."

Like Wade, Bolen improved as the game progressed, too. The shortstop atoned for her costly third-inning error by leading off the top of the sixth with a triple to the 211-foot sign in left-center field. She used patience to compensate for Kiefer's strong changeup.

"Coach told me to sit back on the ball and I tried that and got the big hit," Bolen said.

She scored on a passed ball that Bedwell had trouble locating later in the inning, knotting the game at 1-1.

Chaffee threatened to regain the lead in the bottom half of the sixth. But its rally lost steam when Bedwell was gunned down by Bolen at home plate while trying to score the go-ahead run on a double steal. Bolen was covering second on the play and threw home for the out.

Jackson quickly loaded the bases on three singles in the top of the eighth. Jackson's Brittany Feeney then hit a pitch straight back to Kiefer, who fielded it cleanly and threw home to Bedwell for the inning's first out. When Bedwell threw to first, attempting the double play, her throw sailed into right field. Amanda Pitts scored from second base to give the Indians a 2-1 lead. Jackson plated an insurance run later in the inning.

Wade threw a scoreless inning to give her team the victory. She finished with five strikeouts.

"Hats off to her -- she's a good pitcher," Red Devils coach Shawn Powderly said of Wade. "I thought we swung the bats pretty well. We didn't strike out much and we did a good job putting the ball in play against a good pitcher and a really good team. I wasn't too disappointed in our bats even with the one run because she's a good pitcher."

Powderly was making his Red Devils coaching debut. It is a position that Forester was in last year, when she took over the Indians and led the squad to an 18-10-1 record.

"A lot of these girls I coached this past summer, so got to know some of them and what they can do," Powderly said. "They came out and played their hearts out -- a lot of sad faces after the game. They were pretty torn up about it."