The high-scoring Thunder Mountain High School softball team mercy-ruled an opponent for the sixth time of the season on Friday night at Dimond Park.
Ketchikan — who took down Juneau-Douglas High School 5-1 on Thursday — had repeated errors in the early innings and lost 13-0.
The velocity with which the softball traveled off the Falcons’ bats didn’t help the Lady Kings’ cause, either. Ground balls zoomed underneath the visiting infielders’ mitts on more than more occasion.
The biggest blast of the night belonged to junior Marissa Tunavasa Tuvaifale (5 RBI). The third baseman turned on Jenna Miller’s fourth inning pitch and watched the ball fly past a small red State Farm banner on the left field fence: home run.
Madalynn Vierra relieved Miller and Kayloni Burmudez relieved her as Ketchikan tried preventing the Falcons from reaching 12 runs, the size of the deficit that will end the game after four innings.
TMHS wasn’t having any of it, though, exploding for eight runs in the fourth. Marissa Tanuvasa Tuvaifale shot the ball through the wickets of second baseman Erika Rauwolf to score her older sister and Rachel Macaulay that made it 13-0.
“We’re a tough lineup 1-9,” TMHS coach John Boucher said. “And we bring people off the bench that can hit. So, when we get rolling, they can be pretty impressive sometimes.”
TMHS (13-4, 9-1 SEC) and JDHS (2-14, 2-8 SEC)— who lost to Sitka 15-12 on Friday — were in the middle of four-game homestands as each team sqaud play twice more on Saturday.
The Crimson Bears clawed back from an early 7-0 deficit against the Wolves, taking a 10-7 lead in the third inning. Sitka took the lead back in the fourth though and JDHS couldn’t capitalize on a bases-loaded opportunity in the seventh.
Asianna Mazon, Skylar Hickok, Abby Meiners and Sophia Schauwecker each recorded multiple hits for the Crimson Bears, who made 10 errors on the night.
Headed back to state
TMHS defeated JDHS 9-5 on Tuesday and then went on to defeat Sitka 12-0 on Thursday. The Thursday win clinched the Southeast Conference regular season title and a state tournament berth.
The team set a goal of winning the conference (and thereby qualifying for state) and junior Kyra Jenkins Hayes was proud of reaching it.
“Going to state for our third time in a row is amazing because we were the first team from our school to even go to state and then get a state title,” Jenkins Hayes said. “And now going for a third time and hopefully getting a third state title is so good, and not a lot people get to experience this.”
Since an 0-3 roadtrip in Washington state last month, the TMHS pitching duo of Jenkins Hayes and Nina Fenumiai have been lights out.
One or both of the duo has pitched in 12 of the last 14 games and the team has won all but one of those dozen games.
Fenumiai and Jenkins Hayes were the go-to pitchers on the state-championship winning team last year. Yet, Boucher said the two have kicked it up another notch this season. He said Fenumiai is throwing harder and more accurate. Jenkins Hayes polished up her fastball and change up.
“When you have a good fastball and a good change up, the combination of the two can keep a hitter off balance,” Boucher said.
The coaching staff were cautious with Jenkins Hayes’ innings at the beginning of the season. The multi-sport athlete dislocated her left kneecap in September and reinjured her knee playing basketball in January.
“At the beginning of the season, I was scared to pitch because my left leg is my landing leg, so I was scared that I might re-injure it in a game,” Jenkins Hayes said. “But we’ve gone through like three braces now to keep that from happening.”
The junior said her pitching has been bolstered by a razor-sharp focus.
“From the other dugout, they might be yelling, ‘Oh, it’s a ball!’ and doing their annoying cheers but I just block out and just pitch strikes like I’m supposed to,” Jenkins Hayes said.
• Contact sports reporter Nolin Ainsworth at 523-2272 or nainsworth@juneauempire.com. Follow Empire Sports on Twitter at @akempiresports.
Juneau-Douglas’ Abby Meiners fields a throw as Sitka’s Kyler Sumauang safely makes it to second base at Melvin Park on Friday, May 18, 2018. Sitka won 15-12. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire)
Juneau-Douglas’ Skyler Hickok celebrates as she round the bases after hitting a home run in the third inning against Sitka at Melvin Park on Friday, May 18, 2018. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire)
Juneau-Douglas’ Asianna Mazon, right, scores ahead of the throw to Sitka’s Kyler Sumauang in the fifth inning at Melvin Park on Friday, May 18, 2018. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire)
Juneau-Douglas’ Skyler Hickok celebrates as she round the bases after hitting a home run in the third inning against Sitka at Melvin Park on Friday, May 18, 2018. Sitka won 15-12. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire)
Juneau-Douglas’ Skyler Hickok approaches home plate as her teammates cheer her home run in the third inning against Sitka at Melvin Park on Friday, May 18, 2018. Sitka won 15-12. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire)
