For The Tribune

HOPE

The Seymour softball team did its best to snap Hauser’s 29-game winning streak Saturday morning, putting the tying run on third base with one out in the seventh inning before the Class A No. 1 Jets escaped with a 3-2 victory.

Facing a three-run deficit, the Owls (18-7) loaded the bases with one out in the final inning via three Jet errors. Baylee Robinson, who had three of Seymour’s four hits, then lifted a fly ball to left. Hauser outfielder Lauryn Starnes dropped the ball, but recovered in time to throw McKenna Curry out at third base, making it a 3-1 game with two out.

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Lo Schmidt followed with an RBI single, cutting the deficit in half and putting runners at the corners, but Hauser pitcher Tessa Sims got Katie Suits to pop out to third to finish the game.

It was the missed opportunities earlier in the morning that stuck with Seymour coach Brian Personett.

“It’s on us,” he said. “Early in the game, we had runners in scoring position and we didn’t get the ball in play behind them. We didn’t get timely hits.”

The biggest of those chances came in the top of the second inning. After the Jets (21-0) took a 1-0 lead without a hit in the first, Haley Mobley led off the second with a triple to right. Curry then ripped a grounder that got past Hauser third baseman Sidney Giles, but shortstop Leslie Sims managed to scoop the ball up and throw home in time to cut Mobley down at the plate.

One-out singles by Robinson and Schmidt put Seymour in good position to produce a run in the third, but the Jets again escaped, this time on a fielder’s choice and a foul pop.

RBI singles by Hailey Lange in the third and fifth innings helped Hauser stretch its lead to 3-0 before the Owls’ final at-bat, and the Jets wound up needing both of those runs.

Shaken but not stirred, Seymour heads into sectional play Monday with home-field advantage — but also with a first-round date against Class 4A No. 4 Floyd Central.

“Floyd Central’s the class of our sectional; I don’t think that’s any secret,” Personett said. “We’ve got nothing to lose. We’ll go play fast and loose, and I think we’ve got a game plan for them.”