Jackson softball beats rival Notre Dame on senior night

The Jackson Indians softball defeated the Notre Dame Bulldogs 3-1 on Thursday at the Jackson City Park. Despite going down 1-0 early, the Indians wrestled the lead away from Notre Dame and took the victory home.

Through the first two innings, the teams were locked in a pitcher duel as Jackson’s Kimmora Carothers and Notre Dame’s Taylor Kutz were not allowing many hits. The Bulldogs broke things open in the top of the third when Jacie Smith hit a line drive up the middle and Cierra Landewee scored.

Notre Dame’s lead did not last long as in the bottom of the third Bella Rose crushed a solo home run to tie things 1-1. In the bottom of the fourth Jackson added two more runs when Ashlyn Dawes stole home while Maddie Stelling was caught in a run down. Rilee Monighan had the RBI single allowing Stelling to score from second.

Indians head coach Shawn Wilding said his players are the sole reason the team is able to play so well.

“It’s just good players stepping up every night. Our eight-hole hitter goes yard on senior night, Bella Rose hits the Bella bomb tonight. We always said batters one through nine can hit one out, and sure enough on senior night, she goes yard,” Wilding said. “Scrapping out a couple of runs was big, Maddie Stelling's base running was huge, she hustles and works hard, She snuck across the plate and got us a run there. She hustled around the bases and scored on a well-hit ball to left, so I just thought we challenged them[Notre Dame].”

The Bulldogs gave themselves chances to score but well-executed plays by the Indians helped Jackson maintain the lead. Notre Dame’s Kynna Johnson was thrown out at home in the top of the fifth and Colleen Jimerson was thrown out trying to stretch a hit into a double. Wilding said his team’s defense played well and gave the team a great chance to win.

“Our defense is always aggressive, we're very solid defensively. It was a good night to see some good defense, we had some mishaps, of course, but Maddie Stelling had one slapped at her, she grabbed it and came up firing,” Wilding said. “Dawes tracked a great hit down and fired into the infield, Rose cuts it off and gets to Monighan who got a cleat to the thigh and still made the play at home.”

Jackson will travel to Francis Howell Central on Saturday for a doubleheader with the Spartans while Notre Dame will play in the Doniphan Tournament, also on Saturday.