JDHS sluggers still perfect
Nine-run explosion in third inning blasts Bears past Sitka 11-1
The Juneau-Douglas High School softball team used a nine-run third inning to nurse an early 2-0 lead into a messy 11-1 non-conference mercy rule slaying of visiting Sitka Thursday night to open their Senior Night weekend at Melvin Park.
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The Crimson Bears (7-0 overall, 2-0 Railbelt Conference) will take on their second RC opponent of the year tonight at 5 p.m. and Saturday morning at 10 a.m., when Colony tries their hand at cooling the hot JDHS offense. A Senior Night presentation will be held at approximately 9:30 a.m. Saturday.
Junior pitcher Brittany Fenumiai made a triumphant return for JDHS, tossing a no-hitter through three innings while allowing just two walks and racking up five strikeouts. Fenumiai missed all three home games a week ago against Lathrop and Bartlett, but took the pressure off the Crimson Bears offense early.
Fenumiai also led the Juneau-Douglas offense in her return, finishing 3-for-3 with a double, a pair of runs batted in and a run scored.
Senior catcher Darby Brown was the only other JDHS player with multiple hits, finishing 2-for-3 with a pair of doubles, an RBI and three runs scored.
Jennifer Nelson took the mound for the final two innings, racking up four strikeouts and allowing a hit and a walk before the game was called prior to the bottom of the fifth.
JDHS led off the bottom of the third in unspectacular fashion, as Kalea Chapman went down on strikes. Senior catcher Darby Brown followed with a double to center, though, and Fenumiai added her own double to right field just three pitches later to plate Brown and increase the JDHS lead to 3-0.
Senior Li'i Levale then hit a hard grounder to short and reached on an error as Fenumiai made her way across the plate. A double from senior Rachel Peyton bumped Levale to third, and Nelson's bloop infield single scored both runners amid Sitka's defensive confusion.
Megan Hart then reached first on a fielder's choice that nabbed Nelson for the second out of the inning. Krista Barril quickly scored Hart, though, with a triple ripped down the first base line, and senior Hannah Massey followed with a walk to put runners on the corners. A pickoff throw toward Massey at first sailed past the Sitka player's mitt soon after, and Barril scored while Massey slid safely into third.
The Crimson Bears made a second trip around the order, when Chapman fought back from her early strikeout to send a hard-lining triple down the third base line to plate Massey. Brown then immediately plated Chapman, as well, with a high-arching double to the center field wall. Fenumiai ripped a hard hopper down the first base line to occupy the corners yet again, before Levale dropped a single in shallow left to score Brown and push JDHS' lead to 11-0. Peyton finally popped out to short to end the damaging inning.
Juneau-Douglas scored both of their early runs in the bottom of the first inning, when Fenumiai singled in Massey and Brown, both of whom reached on walks.
Sitka fell to 1-5 overall on the season, and have yet to play a Southeast Conference game.
Sophomore power bat Taylor Larson is out of the JDHS lineup this weekend on a family-related trip.
JDHS - Massey 1-2, Chapman 1-3, Brown 2-3, Fenumiai 3-3, Levale 1-2, Peyton 1-3, Nelson 1-3, Hart 0-2, Barril 1-2, Kaci Hansen 0-1.