Softball: Stellar pitching, hot bats at the top of the order propels Jefferson to 9-0 win over Waterloo

WATERLOO — Aeryn Messmann and Hildie Dempsey combined on a three-hitter with 10 strikeouts as Jefferson’s softball team beat host Waterloo 9-0 in nonconference action on Thursday.

Messmann started and tossed four innings of two-hit ball with six strikeouts, no walks to earn the decision. Dempsey then fanned four over three innings of one-hit ball with four strikeouts, no walks.

The top four hitters in Jefferson’s order — Dempsey, Lily Fairfield, Bre Mengel and Ashlyn Enke — powered the offense in a huge way. Dempsey had three hits and scored three runs, Fairfield and Enke were both 2-for-2 with two RBIs while Mengel added two hits, two RBIs and scored twice.

With two outs in the third inning, Dempsey doubled to left and came around when Fairfield doubled to right. Bre Mengel reached on an error, which allowed Fairfield to score, and came across on a single by Messmann.

It was more of the same in the fourth as Chloe Smith and Dempsey produced back-to-back two-out hits. Fairfield drove them both in on a hard-hit grounder up the gut. Mengel and Enke followed with RBI singles to make it 6-0.

In the sixth, Mengel drove in Dempsey on a triple to center and scored on Enke’s sacrifice fly for the Eagles (11-4).

Ally Schaumann took the loss for the Pirates (11-7).

JEFFERSON 9, WATERLOO 0Jefferson 003 302 1 — 9 15 1

Waterloo 000 000 0 — 0 3 1

Leading hitters — J: Dempsey 3x4 (2B), Fairfield 3x3 (2B), Mengel 2x4 (3B), Enke 3x3, Smith 2x4, Woychik (2B); W: Baumann (2B).

Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so) — J: Messmann W; 4-2-0-0-0-6, Dempsey 3-1-0-0-0-4; W: Schaumann L; 7-15-9-7-1-9.