With just five games remaining in the regular season for the Jackson softball team, the Indians are currently 10-7 overall and have won four games in a row.
Jackson’s latest win came over Cape Notre Dame (11-5) by a score of 6-4 as pitcher Karli Johnson picked up her fifth win of the season after recording five strikeouts through seven innings.
The Indians held a 6-1 lead over the Bulldogs after the first five innings of play with junior designated hitter Sierra Burch driving in three of those runs and scoring another herself.
Burch recorded her fourth home run of the season after she sent the ball over the left-field fence to give Jackson a 4-1 lead in the bottom of the third.
Notre Dame’s run came in the top of the third when junior first baseman Grace Lemons drove junior center fielder Riley Burger home off a double to right field with two outs.
Burch currently has a batting average of .395 with 17 hits and is tied with senior third baseman Jayna Cut-singer for home runs with four apiece. She also is Jackson’s runner up in runs batted in with 15.
The final two runs for the Indians came in the bottom of the fifth as senior first baseman Libby Brakhane singled on a fly ball to send Burch and senior right fielder Ashlyn Prince home.
The Bulldogs scoring surge came in the top of the seventh, which were also the final three outs of the game.
To start things off, Burger reached first base on a bunt, who then stole second in the next at bat.
Freshman designated hitter Ashley Carrow hit a grounder to center field for a single to bring Burger home.
Carrow was sent to home plate the following at bat as junior catcher Kristen Barwick doubled to right field off a line drive to make it 6-3 with two outs.
The Bulldogs final score came when sophomore second baseman Kalie Compas hit a fly ball into center field, giving Barwick enough time to score Notre Dame’s fourth run.
Johnson walked the next batter to have two runners on base with still only one out remaining, but on her next pitch she forced senior third baseman Connor Overfield to ground out and strand the runners to pick up the win.
Jackson will be hosting this year’s Class 4 District 1 Tournament, which features Cape Central (2-10), Northwest (11-6), Poplar Bluff (7-10) and Seckman (9-3).
The Indians have played all of these teams except for Northwest, coming out at 2-1 by defeating Central 12-2, Poplar Bluff 10-3 but fell to Seckman 6-3.
