JAMESTOWN — When Brooke Jackson's name was mentioned, Jamestown High School head softball coach, Mike Soulis, broke into a huge smile.
"She's finding her own right now," Soulis said of Jackson. "She's making good contact, she's seeing the ball really well, she's playing good defense so all around she's one of the bright spots that added to a team effort today."
Jackson's impressive 3-for-4 performance at the plate led the Jays to a 7-6 win over the Bismarck Century in game No. 1 of the doubleheader Tuesday. Jackson, a freshman for the Jays, was a triple away from a cycle in game No. 1.
"After I got my first hit, I was like, 'Well I just got a good hit so I don't want to do bad now!' Jackson said. "It just kept going and going. I was not expecting that at all."
The Jays doubled down and took the second game 15-3 to improve their record to 6-2 overall. Jamestown will see its next action on Friday at Dickinson's tournament at Dickinson State University. Game times are still to be determined.
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Jackson has been playing softball since she was seven years old. This spring marks the first time she's played at the varsity level. Currently, the freshman is .524 at the plate. She's tallied three doubles, two homers and driven in 10 through her seven games played.
"I've actually done a lot better than I thought I was going to," Jackson said. "It is a little scary being varsity but the older girls are so welcoming and they treat you like you are their best friends. They are my favorite part of the team."
It took Jackson and all of the older girls to get a win in game No. 1.
In the bottom of the first, after Jackson doubled on a fly ball to center field, senior Torrie Mack let go the Jays' first bomb of the evening — a two-run blast that landed over the center field fence.
In the next frame, with two down, Jackson singled on a 2-0 count, driving in Jordan Mikkelson. Jackson advanced to third on a Century error which forced Maddie Hoff to try for home. Hoff made it, making it 4-2 Jays after two.
Makenna Nold's pitching and the Jays' defense kept the Patriots in check through the third and fourth frames but the Patriots had no such luck.
In the fourth, Jackson homered on a fly ball out to left field to drive in Jordan Mikkelson to take a 6-2 lead over the Patriots.
Still, the game was far from over.
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Century scored four runs in the fifth tying things up at six apiece.
"We weren't behind — it was 0-0 basically," Soulis said. "We were hitting the ball well and we were running the bases well so it was just like, we just have to score one more. That was mentality — put another one on the board and keep the pressure on them to have to follow it."
The Blue Jays got their one more in the bottom of the fifth and Century couldn't seem to do anything against Nold in the final two frames. While the senior did allow six runs and six walks — she also tallied 15 Ks.
"I am going to take her all day," Soulis said of Nold. "She's going to compete for us. She's a competitor and she's going to find a way and she's going to learn from this. I guarantee that her next outing will not be like this — she'll learn from this and get better.
"We don't have our best all of the time and sometimes we have to struggle through that," he said. "What I like to see is other girls like Jackson stepping up. Torrie Mack had some big hits and when you look at the lineup, we had 10 or 11 girls who all contributed. It wasn't just one person. That was very good to see."
Jamestown 7, Century 6
BC 020 040 0 — 6 7 2
JHS 220 210 X — 7 6 4
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BC: Ashlyn Schumacher; JHS: Makenna Nold. W — Nold; L — Schumacher
Highlights: JHS — Nold (7 IP, 7 H, 6 R, 2 ER, 6 BB, 15 K); Jackson 2-3, 2B, HR, 4 RBI; Torrie Mack 1-3, 2 RBI, HR; Maddie Hoff 1-3.
BC — Schumacher 1-4; Grace Grimm 1-4, 2 RBI; Adileen Paasch 1-4; Londyn White 2-4; Jayda Pudwill 2-3, 3 RBI.
Jamestown 15, Century 3
BC 010 020 X — 3 5 4
JHS 101 175 X — 15 13 1
BC: Lexi Tollefson; JHS: Maddie Hoff . W — Hoff; L — Tollefson
Highlights: JHS — Hoff (6 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB 6 K); Torrie Mack 5-5, 3 2B, HR, 7 RBI.
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BC — Mallory Moos 1-3, 2B.
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