Jackson uses 16-hit day to get by Chaffee

The Jackson Indians softball team defeated the Chaffee Red Devils 11-3 on Thursday in Jackson City Park. Jackson used a 16-hit offensive performance balanced with defensive perseverance to reach win number 27 on the season.

The Red Devils struck first in the top of the first inning when Paizleigh Graham hit a single into left and brought Ayne’ Held in to take the early 1-0 lead. Chaffee’s advantage did not last long as Jackson tied and took the lead back in the bottom half of the inning. Ashlyn Dawes, Zoe Flath, and Madalyn Stelling each registered RBIs, but the big blow by the Indians came off the bat of Kimmora Carothers who launched a two-run home run for the 5-1 lead.

Jackson head coach Shawn Wilding said Caruthers had been itching for a big hit and he was happy she got one.

Jackson pitcher Ashlyn Dawes winds up to throw against Chaffee on Thursday in Jackson.Tony Capobianco ~ tcapobianco@semoball.com

“Kimmora Carothers we got her going again, that's always good. That was about 250 to dead center. Woo, that was a monster shot. I was so happy for her that I didn't even see it go out,” Wilding said. “She's been chomping at the bit to get back in there and get after it and she got in there and got after it.”

Jackson added three more in the second inning with a pair of doubles by Dawes and Miley Conklin and a single from Flath. Another Dawes hit along with a Jaylie Walther sacrifice bunt and a double from Kaiden Weisbrod brought the Indian lead to 11-3 and Jackson never looked back. Wilding said the team was able to put pressure on Chaffee with their offense and did enough on defense to take home the victory.

“They scored one we scored five, so we pretty much said ‘Okay, there you go, good luck’, we played sharp defense at times, had a couple of miscues and errors in there, that happens,” Wilding said. “They’re kids and it's softball, so things are gonna happen, but we just overcome mistakes and we put a lot of pressure on them and we were very successful.”

The Indians will have three more games before beginning Class 5 District 1 play while Chaffee has four more games before the Class 2 District 1 tournament.