The Blair Oaks Lady Falcons set the tone from the opening batter of Wednesday’s contest against the Jefferson City Lady Jays at Jefferson City High School.
Baley Rackers led off the contest with a hustle double, a sign of things to come for the Lady Falcons.
Kally Bruce drove in Rackers two batters later with a double to give Blair Oaks momentum it would never give back in a 7-0 victory against the Lady Jays.
“Baley had an incredible game, in the box, on the bases, defensively, she was just very solid,” Blair Oaks coach Sharon Buschjost said. “And then Kally does what Kally has been doing all season, base hit after base hit and hard line drives. That was a great start and a very complete game”
The Lady Falcons continued their aggressive baserunning in the second.
Avery Libbert led off with a single and moved up to second on a groundout to short. Rackers laid a bunt down the third-base line and was able to beat out the throw for an infield single, but Libbert never stopped running on the play and was able to score from second. Rackers also never stopped running and made it to second after the throw from first went home to try and nab Libbert.
“They are huge because those are things you work on in practice,” Buschjost said. “… In order for that to happen, Avery Libbert has to come to me with speed and aggressiveness in order for me to be confident to continue her on. I saw from her what I needed, and the aggressiveness catches teams off guard, they rush throws and it works to our favor.”
The top of Blair Oaks’ batting order continued to deliver following Rackers’ bunt. Chesney Luebbering followed with an RBI triple into shallow right field to score Rackers and Bruce made it a 4-0 game with an RBI single.
The Lady Falcons’ four seniors, Rackers, Chesney Luebbering, Bruce and Morgan Luebbering, controlled the top four spots of batting order and combined to go 9-for-16 with five RBI.
“These seniors set the tone again offensively,” Buschjost said.
A four-run lead was plenty for Ava Willson to protect in the circle as she tossed a four-hit, complete-game shutout.
Willson walked the first batter she faced but didn’t give up a free pass the rest of the way and finished with six strikeouts.
“It was great because this is a very good Jeff City team that has played some really tough games against some really tough opponents,” Buschjost said. “Coming into it, I didn’t anticipate us keeping them off the board.”
“She was probably one of the faster pitchers we have seen so far this season,” Jefferson City coach Zac Miller said. “We struggled with timing and pitch selection. … We had a few balls we squared up well, but we started those innings with two outs. Hard to get them around that way.”
Blair Oaks added another run in the fourth on an RBI single by Chesney Luebbering, but it looked like the Lady Falcons would add another after Morgan Luebbering singled to left field with two outs and courtesy runner Madison Vaughan on second.
But Amelia Cripe did not let that happen, collecting the ball in left and firing to Finley Walker at the plate to get Vaughan trying to score and end the inning.
“That was great,” Miller said. “It helped us get out of the inning there and cut down that runner. She made a good play, got behind it and put a good throw on it. That’s what we want to see.”
The Lady Falcons’ also used a good throw from the outfield to help eliminate Jefferson City’s biggest scoring threat of the contest in the bottom of the fourth.
The Lady Jays got a pair of runners on with two outs and Summer Branch singled up the middle. Miller initially sent Jaela Nickerson around third to try and score, but center fielder Belle Boessen made a strong throw to the plate and Nickerson was forced to head back to third.
Willson induced a groundout to third to the next batter to get out of the inning with the shutout intact.
“You have those players, just like their left fielder threw a strike home and got a runner out, you have those fielders that you know have that strong arm and potential to drill a runner out at home,” Buschjost said. “That was fun to see Belle unload it and keep the runner at third. That was big in keeping them off the board.”
Blair Oaks got its final two runs in the top of the seventh after Libbert singled home Boessen and Willson was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.
Willson closed out the contest in the bottom half with a 1-2-3 frame.
“Tonight I would like to bottle a lot of what I saw and sprinkle it on some upcoming games,” Buschjost said.
Rackers led the way for the Lady Falcons with three hits, two runs scored and three stolen bases, while Bruce, Morgan Luebbering and Libbert all had two hits.
Branch and Nickerson each had two hits to account for the Lady Jays’ four-hit effort.
Blair Oaks (12-6), No. 10 in Class 3 by the Missouri High School Fastpitch Coaches Association rankings, will play Tuesday in a Tri-County Conference matchup against California.
Jefferson City (9-9) will look to rebound at 11 a.m. Saturday when it hosts Central Missouri Activities Conference foe Capital City at Jefferson City High School.
Blair Oaks also won the JV contest 7-3 on Wednesday to improve to 6-5 on the season.