By Drew Terhall

Dailyadvocate.com

VERSAILLES — In the cold weather, the spring sports season started around Darke County. The Versailles softball team starts the season with two wins as they swept Franklin Monroe in a double header at home on March 23.

Versailles head coach Tatyana Cotrell said the team prepared for the cold and came out hot to start the season.

“Coming out in the cold we expected, we’ve been practicing the past couple of days out here. I think that helped quite a bit. Just came out and worked really hard,” Cotrell said. “We put the ball in play and played great defense.”

The weather knocked the Lady Jets off their game. Head coach Jared Morris said they beat themselves with some errors and not making the routine play.

Even after going through some scrimmages, the Lady Jets had to adjust to the game speed in some harsh conditions.

“We let the weather get in our heads today. That’s frustrating as a coach. Hopefully, we come out ready to go his next week. We got a lot of games ahead,” Morris said.

In the first game, Versailles got the scoring going in the second inning. Sophomore Miley Stover drove in a run to go up 1-0. Senior Kailey Jenkinson then blasted a three-run home run to go up 4-0.

The Lady Jets then got a run on the board in the third inning. Junior Layni Ressler started the inning with a double. Senior Joanie Hall drove her in to make it a 4-1 game.

Versailles exploded for five runs in the fourth inning. Jenkinson drove in another run. Senior Colleen Hiestand and sophomore Brooke Bergman both drove in a run as well. Senior Jenna Dirksen capped off the inning with a two-run hit.

In the top of the fifth inning, Franklin Monroe went on a scoring spree of their own. Senior Olivia Sease got the two-out rally going with a two-run double. She later came around to score on an error.

Junior Lila Davis drove in two more runs to make it a 9-6 game. Morris said this team can hit the ball well and has seen their offense have success in game situations. They just couldn’t be consistent at the plate in these two games.

“This team can definitely hit the ball. We’ve shown that through four scrimmages. Just didn’t have it consistently today. We had that one inning, where we were able to grab five. We just have to be able to do that more consistently,” Morris said.

Versailles scored seven runs combined in the fifth and sixth inning. Hiestand and Bergman each drove in another run in the fifth. Senior Lauryn Cordonnier had a two-run double in the fifth. to go up 13-6.

In the sixth, Versailles scored on an error and senior Reagan Brown drove in two runs. Those runs gave Versailles a 16-6 run-rule win.

For Versailles, Bergman pitched the first five innings with Hiestand pitching the sixth inning. Senior Keihl Johnson started for Franklin Monroe and had four strikeouts while pitching all six innings.

In game two, Hiestand started the game for Versailles with Davis starting the game for Franklin Monroe.

In the bottom of the first inning, Jenkinson started the scoring with a sacrifice groundout. Dirksen then drove in another run on a sacrifice groundout. In the third inning, Jenkinson drove in another run on a sacrifice flyout. Cordonnier drove in a run off a hit to go up 4-0 in the first three innings.

Cotrell said she told the team between games she wanted to see them put the ball in play more and not leave runners stranded.

“I told the girls in between games we need to be more productive on the bases and hitting the ball in. Getting our girls to score. I would rather leave the bases empty than leave two girls on base each time, like we did in the first game,” Cotrell said.

Sease came through for the Lady Jets and drove in a run off double to make it a 4-1 game in the fourth inning.

Then the Lady Tigers took over the second game in the bottom of the fourth. Hiestand drove in a run off a hit. Then Bergman scored a run on another sacrifice groundout. Hiestand, on third base, scored on a wild pitch.

Versailles was up 7-1 after four innings. They tacked on two more runs between the next two innings. Stover drove in a run on a sacrifice groundout while Hiestand scored on another wild pitch.

Hiestand only surrendered the one run and closed out the game in the seventh. Versailles came away with a 9-1 win in the second game to finish out the double header.

Cotrell said her pitchers played great today and was happy to see Hiestand have success with some new pitches.

“Colleen is a great pitcher and we’ve been working on new pitches and trying to get it more accurate. I’m glad to see it working today. (We’ll) see what the future holds,” Cotrell said.

Hiestand had two strikeouts combined between both games on the mound.

Jenkinson finished the day with six total RBI. Hiestand, Bergman and Dirksen all drove in three runs. Cordonnier, Brown and Stover each drove in two runs on the day.

For Franklin Monroe, Sease and Davis each drove in two runs. Hall had one RBI between both games.

The Lady Jets will next play at Benjamin Logan on March 25 for a 5:15 p.m. first pitch. They will then host St. Henry on March 26 for a 5:30 p.m. first pitch.

The Lady Tigers will next host Tri-Village on March 29 at 5 p.m. They will then have an away double header at Benjamin Logan on March 30 starting at 11 a.m.

Contact Daily Advocate sports editor Drew Terhall at [email protected]