It only took two days for the Warren County High School softball team to put a rough start to the season behind it for good.
The night after winning 4-1 in their home opener against Franklin County, the Lady Pioneers traveled to Cumberland County and crushed the Lady Jets in a doubleheader.
Warren County won the first game 14-1, then followed it up with a 12-0 shutout.
Coach David Upton has been looking for consistency in three main areas this season: pitching, hitting and defense.
He got it Tuesday night when his team improved its District 6-AAA record to 2-1 and overall record to 4-5 with a pair of impressive victories.
Runs were easy to come by against the Lady Jets as Warren County piled up 18 hits in the first contest and 14 more in the second game.
While the Lady Pioneers seemed to be making a constant loop around the bases offensively, senior Gabi Keith and junior Monica Lane made quick work of the Lady Jets when Warren County took small breaks from hitting.
Keith pitched the first game, giving up three hits and one run while striking out five. Keith picked up her third win of the season, moving her record to 3-4.
Lane was just as solid in the second game. Pitching her second contest of the regular season, Lane threw a shutout, holding the Lady Jets scoreless while surrendering just two hits and sitting down four.
Lane was also a big part of the Lady Pioneer offense taking off against the Lady Jets.
Lane finished the night with seven hits in eight at-bats, tops on the team. Sarah Jacobs was right behind her teammate, finishing with six hits, including a two-run home run that broke the first game open.
The first game entered the second inning tied 1-1, but Jacobs would change it quickly. After Morgan Frye reached base on a double, Jacobs used the big fly to put the Lady Pioneers up two.
Jacobs took a big cut and sent the ball sailing over the left-field fence as the senior third baseman sprinted around the bases. Jacobs barely had time to relish her first career home run before being mobbed by her teammates at the plate.
Lauren Wilkinson would add an RBI double in the inning as Warren County took a 4-1 lead.
In the third, the Lady Pioneers continued to pour in runs. Eight Warren County players crossed the plate as the Lady Pioneers started to roll against the Lady Jets.
Jacobs and Wilkinson each had a RBI hit, while Lane added a two-run double and Taylor Grissom scored two with a single.
By the time Grissom added another RBI in the fourth and Frye doubled in Grissom, the Lady Pioneers led 14-1.
Keith pitched a spotless fifth to finish the game and give the Lady Pioneers their second straight win.
It wouldn’t be long before the win ning streak reached three.
Warren County took a 7-0 lead in the top of the first in the second game against Cumberland County.
Lane helped herself with an RBI single, while Frye, Hall and Samantha Weeter got run-scoring hits as well.
Lane ran into trouble in the first inning when the first three batters reached base, but the junior didn’t panic with the bases loaded and no outs.
Lane forced a grounder to short, where Wilkinson caught the ball and fired home for an out. Lane took care of the next grounder herself, again getting a force out at home.
By the time Weeter tagged a runner out trying to reach second, the Lady Pioneers got out of the inning without allowing a run.
Lane tripled to start the second, then scored on a sacrifice fly by Grissom.
The lead swelled to 10 in the third as Weeter drove Jacobs in with a single and would end up scoring herself on a wild pitch.
Frye and Jacobs ended the scoring spree with RBIs in the fourth as Warren County totaled 26 runs in two games, surpassing the 19 runs the team scored in its first seven games.
Lane finished with a victory in the circle to go along with her four runs and four RBIs over two games.
Jacobs had five RBIs on her six hits as she raised her batting average to well over .300 for the season.
Grissom drove in four runs on two hits, while Frye and Wilkinson finished with four hits apiece.
The Lady Pioneers hoped to continue their winning streak last night with a home game against Shelbyville. Results were unavailable at press time.
Warren County will be back in action this weekend as the team plans to play in a Macon County tournament.