JEFFERSON — Bre Mengel drove in four runs and Aeryn Messmann struck out 10, leading Jefferson’s softball team past Monroe 7-2 in Rock Valley play at Riverfront Park on Thursday.
Mengel walked and scored on a passed ball in the first inning.
The Jefferson fourth saw Chloe Smith and Lily Fairfield single, putting runners at the corners with two outs. Fairfield then swiped second base. Mengel singled both runners home on a hard-hit knock up the gut.
The conference-leading Eagles (8-4, 6-1 in conference), who snapped a three-game slide, added two more runs in the fifth. Aeryn Messmann doubled to left to open the frame. Allie Hesse traded positions with Messmann after a long double, also to left. She took third on a wild pitch and scored on Hannah Werning’s ground out.
Hildie Dempsey singled and Fairfield followed by bunting for a hit in the sixth. Dempsey took third on an error before Fairfield later stole second. With a pair in scoring position, Mengel lined a double to left — her third hit of the game — to extend the Jefferson lead to 7-0.
“For us tonight offensively, it was about patience at the plate,” Jefferson softball coach Jeff Agnew said. “We did a good job on plate selection and coaxed four walks too. Bre was just huge offensively.”
Messmann worked 6 1/3 innings and walked none, really finding a groove in the middle innings by retiring eight straight in the decision. She allowed Emma Tran’s two-run homer in the Monroe (10-3, 4-2) seventh before turning the ball over to Dempsey, who recorded a pair of punch outs to end it.
“For the first six innings, Aeryn was just on,” Agnew said. “She was really moving the ball and throwing four different pitchers. She had the changeup working and the riseball working. Her curve was working both ways and her fastball was working.
“It was fun to watch her pitch a great game. Hannah Werning did a great job catching Aeryn. They worked really well together.”
Jefferson, ranked sixth in the Division 2 Coaches Poll, got the monkey off its back after three losses in down-to-the-wire games. Agnew has been impressed with the group’s resiliency.
“They are competitors and they play hard,” Agnew said. “Whoever they play, they’ll give them seven innings. I don’t think there was a doubt in their minds they were going to come out and play well today. Hopefully this puts us on a good track. Hopefully we can manufacture runs more consistently and not leave them on base.
“Tonight it was about getting the ball in play. We put the bunt down when we needed to, got good lead offs and read where we were going. I thought we took a step forward there. We’re not where we want to be yet, but we’re on our way.”
JEFFERSON 7, MONROE 2Monroe 000 000 2 — 2 6 1
Jefferson 100 222 x — 7 11 0
Leading hitters — M: Tran 2x3 (HR), Kundert (2B); J: Dempsey 2x4, Fairfield 2x4, Mengel 3x3 (2B), Messmann 2x3 (2B), Hesse (2B).
Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so) — M: Paulson L; 5-8-5-5-4-3, Golembiewski 1-3-2-2-0-1; J: Messmann W; 6.1-6-2-2-0-10, Dempsey 0.2-0-0-0-0-2.
SATURDAY’S RESULTDARIEN — Ashlyn Enke threw a perfect game with 12 strikeouts and Tenley Barden drove in five runs as Jefferson’s softball team beat host Delavan-Darien 15-0 in four innings in Rock Valley play Saturday.
Lily Fairfield was 3-for-3 and scored four runs for the Eagles (9-4, 7-1 in conference). Hildie Dempsey, Bre Mengel and Barden all had two-hit games.
Barden singled home a pair in the first inning. In Jefferson’s seven-run third, Chloe Smith and Dempsey produced consecutive RBI doubles and Barden’s bases-clearing three-run double made it 14-0.
Enke threw 39 of her 44 pitches for strikes.
Jefferson travels to face Lake Mills on Monday.
JEFFERSON 15, DELAVAN-DARIEN 0 (4)Jefferson 347 1 — 15 14 0
Delavan-Darien 000 0 — 0 0 4
Leading hitters — J: Dempsey 2x3 (2B), Fairfield 3x3, Mengel 2x3 (2B), Barden 2x4 (2B), Smith (2B), Milbrath (2B).
Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so) — J: Enke W; 4-0-0-0-0-12; D-D: Zweifel L; 1-4-6-6-4-0, Lumkes 3-10-9-7-2-4.
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