MOUNT VERNON – Turns out it wasn’t the Mount Vernon softball team’s version of Curt Schilling’s bloody sock.
It was just Emma Jones dragging her foot with every one of her 92 pitches during a complete-game 4-0 win over Lexington to lead the Yellow Jackets to their fourth consecutive Ohio Cardinal Conference championship.
Jones ripped holes through her shoe and sock on her way to 12 strikeouts in a five-hitter.
“I was just really excited to be out here today,” Jones said, fighting emotions. “There was a lot riding on this game. I love the (big-pressure) games. It was just really exciting and really fun.”
Jones has been Mount Vernon’s ace. It was her second shutout during OCC play, including a 1-0 victory over Ashland that went 10 innings early in the year. She dragged her foot to 110 pitches in that win as well.
“She steps in that circle every day and she puts that team on her back,” Mount Vernon coach Ryan Pentz said. “She continues to come out and carry that team. Our girls have so much confidence in her. She hits her spots and does her thing. She believes in her pitches.
“Emma is, to me, one of the best pitchers in the state of Ohio. There’s nobody I’d rather have in my circle than her right now.”
But for four innings, Lexington’s Jillian Bammann matched her pitch for pitch. The Lex hurler held the Jackets to just four hits over three innings.
“It was definitely a battle of the pitchers there for a while,” Jones said. “She’s a good pitcher. She threw well for a while and we just finally figured it out, I think. That was good for me out there — a little less pressure.”
Then Rae Straight came through with a one-out base hit to center. Further tying the Jackets to the 2004 Red Sox, Straight took off for second base with two outs. The ball beat her to the base, but a head-first slide around the tag gave her enough time to beat the tag at the base.
“I was scared,” Straight said. “My hand almost came off the base, but it stayed on. I knew I had to be there for my team.
“We were there, but we were down because every ball we were hitting was going right to (a Lexington fielder) and we weren’t getting anywhere. So getting on really meant a lot. I knew we could get a lead from that. Stealing that base just added extra to it.”
Mollie Pentz sent a grounder to second that was bobbled, giving Straight enough time to score with another hook slide around the plate, and Mount Vernon led 1-0.
“It’s a game of inches,” Ryan Pentz said about Straight’s stolen base. “Rae has a lot of intangibles. She showed those intangibles there — hook-sliding and getting around the tag and got ahold of that base. It ultimately got this offense rolling.”
After another error gave the Jackets a 2-0 lead, Brooke Radermacher provided the first and only big blow. She belted a two-run homer over the center field wall to give Jones some room to work.
“I didn’t think the offense was at ease all (game),” Ryan Pentz said. “We barreled a few balls up, but it was right to them. (Radermacher) came up and put us at ease a little bit. Brooke has a huge bat. With any given swing, she can send the ball a long way.”
Jones didn’t need the extra cushion, though. She retired six of the final seven batters she faced. She struck out the side in the seventh to clinch the title.
Radermacher was also key in the Jackets’ big win over Central Crossing in the second round of the Division I district tournament on Wednesday, May 12. She hit a sacrifice fly in the first inning to give third-seeded Mount Vernon a 2-1 lead over the 40th-seeded Comets. She then added a three-run homer in the second inning to blow the game open, and the Jackets advanced with a 17-4 win in five innings.
