Hays Post Sports
JUNCTION CITY - Hays High earned a pair of victories over Junction City on Tuesday behind strong pitching performances.
Game 1: Hays 6, Junction City 2
Hays senior Riley Dreher recorded four hits in the first game including an run scoring double in the first inning for the game's first run. Dreher's hit scored Alyse Zimmerman. Brooklyn Dinkel hit a sacrifice fly to deep left field to score Adelie Kippes.
The Indian bats were held silent until the fifth inning. Katie Klein opened the inning with a triple and then scored on a when Zimmerman put a ball into play for a 3-0 lead.
Hays added insurance runs in the top of the seventh. Zimmerman led off with a double followed by a sacrifice bunt by Kippes. Dreher drove in Zimmerman on a hard line drive to first base. Sophomore Brynlee Brous hit her first career home run three pitches later for a 6-0 advantage.
Dreher pitched strong through five innings before running into some trouble in the sixth and seventh. Junction City had runners at second and third with nobody out when Dreher caught a Blue Jay looking for the first out. A walk loaded the bases before another strikeout and a ground out ended the threat.
Junction City did break through in the seventh with a pair of runs on two hits and a walk. The Hays lead held though for the 6-2 win.
Dreher (3-0) struck out eight batters and walked two. She allowed seven hits and two runs, both of which were earned. Hays had eight hits in the victory.
Game 2: Hays 5, Junction City 0
Lanie Becker and Jaylee Summers combined for a shutout in the second game. Becker pitched the first three innings, allowing just two hits and striking out two. Summers took over for the next two innings. The first batter to face her singled. Summer retired the next six in a row, three via strike out. Becker (1-0) then re-entered the game and finished the last two innings by striking out three more batters while facing the minimum.
Catcher Avery Soliday ended the game by throwing a steal attempt at second base on the same pitch that recorded a strike out.
Hays scored one run in the second inning and two more in the third for a 3-0 lead. Brynlee Rupp walked to open the top of the second inning. She scored on back-to-back Blue Jay errors.
Lauren Klein and Riley Dreher lit up the scoreboard by each recording a triple to start the third inning. Brynlee Brous drove in Dreher with a sacrifice fly in foul territory for the 3-0 lead.
Hays threatened to score in the fourth and fifth inning but couldn't take advantage.
They broke through in the sixth with two more runs. Lanie Becker singled to open the frame but did not score until there was two outs when Alyse Zimmerman drove her in. Klein's third hit of the game brought Zimmerman home for the 5-0 final score.
Hays improves to 4-0 on the season. They head to Dodge City for a single game in the Western Athletic Conference opener on Tuesday, April 8th.