Lady Pioneers’ Renner ‘perfect’ in 10-0 victory
CARMICHAELS — West Greene’s Jade Renner threw a five-inning perfect game, while the Lady Pioneers’ offense pounded out 11 hits in a 10-0 victory at Carmichaels Wednesday afternoon in Section 2-A softball action.
The Lady Pioneers (6-1, 3-0) pushed their section unbeaten streak to 25 games. Their last section loss was an 8-0 setback to Jefferson-Morgan near the end of the 2015 season.
“Sometimes our defense gets lost in the shuffle over these last couple of years,” West Greene coach Billy Simms said. “I thought our infielders were tremendous today and Jade did a great job of getting weak contact. We brought our gloves today.”
Renner set down all 15 batters she faced on 51 pitches in throwing her first perfect game. She only recorded two strikeouts, but relied on her defense for 11 ground outs.
“I’ve got to give all the credit to my defense,” Jade Renner said. “They fielded everything today. I hit my corners and kept the ball down, but the defense should get a lot of praise for the perfect game. I put a lot of spin on my pitches and it gives me so much confidence when I pitch because of our defense.”
The lefty ace now holds a career record of 24-2.
“When she was coming up through the ranks, she was a strikeout pitcher,” Simms said. “We were always worried about the lack of action the defense had with her on the rubber. I think she has morphed into a contact pitcher and is relying more on the defense. She’s always in the strike zone and knows how to work the corners.”
Renner, who is a sophomore, was made aware of her perfect game by her older sister and shortstop Madison, a senior, at the beginning of the bottom of the fifth.
“I was really focused today and I didn’t even notice I had the perfect game going,” Jade said. “My sister told me at the start of the fifth and I kind of panicked a little. I told her to go knock on that wood and to not jinx me. Our whole team likes to keep it loose.”
For the second straight day, the Lady Mikes (3-3, 2-2) fell in section play. Carmichaels lost to Monessen, 7-2, on Tuesday.
“I think our defense has struggled these last two games,” Carmichaels coach Dave Briggs said. “We have to get better defensively and we can’t afford to give good teams extra outs. We are young in a lot of spots, but it’s a long season and I truly believe we can improve a lot on our defense.”
McKenna Lampe reached base on an infield error in the first and scored from first on a single by Madison Lampe and an errant throw from the outfield.
Madison Renner’s RBI single scored Madison Lampe to make it 2-0.
McKenna Lampe smashed a triple with one out in the top of the second inning and would later score on a RBI ground out by Madison Lampe to make it 3-0.
After Jade Renner led off the third with a double, her courtesy runner Brianna Goodwin crossed home plate after a run-producing double by Lexie Mooney.
West Greene sent 10 batters to the plate and exploded for six runs in the fourth inning to solidify its lead.
Kaitlyn Rizor laced a two-run single followed by an RBI double by Jade Renner. Mooney smacked an RBI single and later scored on an outfield error. Mackenzie Carpenter ended the scoring onslaught with a RBI double that brought home Linzee Stover.
“I really liked our production one through nine today,” Simms said. “The lower part of the order got on for the top and that’s a pretty good combination to have. The Lampe twins set the tone and they put pressure on the pitcher. I thought Mooney and Stover hit the ball really hard today against a really good pitcher.”
Kylie Sinn was tagged with the loss for the Lady Mikes.
Both teams are idle today and will return to section action on Friday. West Greene hosts Jefferson-Morgan and Carmichaels visits Mapletown.
“We have gotten a fair share of our games in this year and we are going to take full advantage of having Thursday off,” Briggs said. “We just need to come together and bring the right approach into games. We have to learn and improve every game out.”