Lady Jacket Streak At 10; Record Is 22-4

Malleigh Burns

Bentlee Metts

Ella Wood

Jeff Davis High’s softball team ran its win streak to 1o games with four wins over the past week, boosting their record to 22-4.
The Lady Jackets shutout East Laurens last Tuesday 15-0, edged Telfair County 6-5 Wednesday, took a 9-5 win over Wayne County Thursday, and bested Swainsboro 8-0 Monday.
It took JD only four innings to down East Laurens in East Laurens as Kesleigh Poe threw a shutout, giving up three harmless singles and a pair of walks, and striking out two.
Meanwhile, the Lady Jackets banged out 13 hits and had nine free passes.
Jaci Underwood led the offense with a double, two singles and two RBI. Kalleigh Sellers had a single, a triple and two RBI, Jenna Miles singled twice, had a sacrifice fly and drove in three runs, Paige Carter and Ella Wood had a pair of singles and one RBI, Bianca Torres had a single, a sacrifice and an RBI, Tia Cornish singled in a run and Zoe Spencer and Payton Thigpen both had an RBI.
Carter started the game with a single, stole second, went to third on a passed ball and scored on Miles’ sacrifice fly. Underwood then singled, Sellers walked, and Wood singled to score Underwood.
In the second, Carter got a 2-out single and scored on an outfielder’s error.  Miles singled and scored on an Underwood double to make it 4-0.
The Lady Jackets sent 12 batters to the plate in the 7-run third inning all the runs coming with two outs. With the bases loaded, Carter was hit by a pitch, Miles had a 2-run single, Underwood singled in a run, Sellers tripled to drive in another run, and Cornish drove in a run with a single to make it 11-0.
JD’s four runs in the fourth also came with two outs. A trio of 2-out walks and a Sellers single upped the tally to 12-0. Thigpen and Spencer had back-to-back bases loaded walks to make it 14-0 and Torres singled in the 15th run.
Telfair rallied from a 5-0 deficit to tie the game in the top of the seventh. In the bottom of the eighth, Annalese Poole drew a bases loaded walk to end the game and give Jeff Davis a 6-5 win.
Starting pitcher Maeleigh Burns got into trouble in the second as a walk and a double put Lady Trojans on second and third with no one out. A fielder’s choice grounder got the third base runner out trying to score but the next batter walked to load the bases. Burns then got a fly out and a ground out to end the inning.
In the bottom of the second, the Lady Jackets continued with their 2-out rallies, as Thigpen walked and scored on a Bentlee Metts single. Carter then singled in Metts to make it 2-0.
In the third, the Lady Jackets got a run on back-to-back singles by Sellers and Poole to up the score to 3-0.
In the fourth, JD again started the inning with a pair of outs and rallied. Carter singled and scored as Miles was safe on an error. Miles then scored as Underwood reached on an error making it 5-0.
Telfair rallied in the fifth scoring four times and closing to within 5-4. In the top of the seventh, back-to-back Lady Jacket errors enabled the Lady Trojans to tie the game 5-5.
The bottom of the eighth was yet another Jeff Davis at bat that began with a pair of outs.  Miles then doubled and Underwood was intentionally walked. Sellers then won a 10-pitch battle at the plate, fouling off four pitches with two strikes, to work a walk and load the bases. Poole then drew a ball on a 3-2 count to win the game.
Underwood again led the hitting with a single and a double. Carter had a pair of singles and an RBI, Sellers and Torres both had a pair of singles, Miles doubled, Poole had a single and two RBI, and Metts singled in a run.
Burns pitched the first four innings, giving up four runs only one of which was earned. She gave up four hits, walked three and struck out two. Poe picked up the win in relief as she threw the final three innings, giving up no earned runs on two hits, walking none and striking out four.
In Jesup, Jeff Davis scored three times in the top of the seventh inning to break open a close game for a 9-5 win.
JD started the first inning like so many innings during the week — with a 2-out rally to take a 2-0 lead. Underwood and Sellers got back-to-back doubles to put JD on the board. Poole then singled in Sellers to make it 2-0.
In the third, Underwood led off the inning with a single. Poole followed with a single and Wood was safe on a fielder’s choice as Underwood beat the throw to third. Thigpen then lofted a sacrifice fly to right to score Underwood and Poole advanced home on the throw to give Jeff Davis a 4-1 lead.
Jeff Davis made it 5-1 in the fourth as Carter singled and scored as Underwood reached on an error.
After Wayne closed to 5-3, JD got a run in the sixth as Miles drove in a run on a ground out.
A 2-run doubled in the bottom of the sixth drew Wayne within a run at 6-5.
The JD Jackets put the game on ice in the top of the seventh with three runs. Wood’s triple scored pinch runner Spencer and, with two outs, Cornish drilled a 2-run homer over the center field fence to make it 9-5.
Carter had three singles to lead the offense. Underwood had a double ad a single, Poole singled twice and drove in a run, Wood tripled in a run, Sellers had double and an RBI, Cornish had a 2-run homer, Metts singled and Thigpen had a sacrifice fly and two RBI.
Kelsey Parlor started on the mound and picked up the win throwing 5 1/3 innings. She gave up two earned runs on five hits, walked two, hit two, and struck out four. Poe pitched the final 1 2/3 innings, blanking Wayne on one hit, walking none and striking out two.
Poe pitched a one-hit shutout Monday against Swainsboro as the Lady Jackets won in five innings. The second Lady Tiger batter of the game singled off Poe but the senior hurler then retired nine batters in a row before giving up a 4th inning walk. But that baserunner was quickly eliminated by a Carter-Miles-Wood, 6-4-3 double play. Poe then retired the last three batters in order.
Jeff Davis got three runs in the first as Sellers singled in Carter who had singled to lead off the inning. An out later, Wood doubled in two more runs.
The Lady Jackets got three more runs in the fourth as Riley Mathis singled, Metts reached on an error and Carter followed with a 2-run double to left. Carter advanced to third on the throw and scored as Miles grounded out to second, making it 6-0.
In the fifth, a 1-out Wood single and an error put two runners on. With two outs and runners on 1st and 2nd, Cornish and Carter had back-to-back singles to drive in a run apiece and end the game by the run rule.
The Lady Jackets had 10 hits led by Carter who was 3-for-4 with a double and two singles and drove in three runs. Wood had a double, a single and two RBI, Underwood doubled, Sellers and Cornish both had a single and an RBI, and Poole and Mathis each singled.
Poe allowed only two baserunners on a hit and a walk and struck out five.
Score by innings:
JDHS    2    2    7    4    -15
ELHS    0    0    0    0    –  0

TC    0    0    0    0    4    0    1    0    -5
JD    0    2    1    2    0    0    0    1    -6

JDHS    2    0    2    1    0    1    3    -9
WCHS    0    1    0    0    2    2    0    -5

SHS    0    0    0    0    0    -0
JDHS    3    0    0    3    2    -8