Facing Jefferson seems to bring out the best in St. Pius X senior A.J. Agers.
The Lancer pitching ace no-hit the Blue Jays, their Jefferson County Activities Association rival, and racked up 15 strikeouts in a 3-0 shutout at St. Pius on Sept. 22.
The last time Agers faced Jefferson was in the Class 2 District 2 semifinals last season when she fanned 14 in a 3-2 victory. St. Pius went on to beat Kelly 2-1 and capture its third district championship in four years before losing to East Carter in the sectional round. The Redbirds finished fourth in the state.
The Lancers (6-2) and Blue Jays (5-5) will compete in Class 2 District 4 at New Haven, so the conference win doubled as standing in the district seeding. After a 5-1 start, Jefferson has lost four straight games.
“We set a couple of goals every year,” St. Pius head coach Kevin Halley said. “We like to beat all the teams in our (league). I don’t think teams knew what to expect from us after we lost nine seniors, seven of them starters. This year’s girls have really acclimated themselves well and had a great attitude.”
Agers walked Jefferson’s Cameron Menke to start the seventh inning. With one out, Brittany Bittick hit a line drive off the glove of St. Pius first baseman Payton Baker, but second baseman A.J. Stetina corralled it and threw Bittick out at first. Agers struck out Chloe Vaughn to end the game.
“Strikeout-wise, it was my best performance of the year,” Agers said. “I had some crisp pitches.”
Senior Grace Halfmann scored in the first inning to give the Lancers a 1-0 lead. St. Pius had the bases loaded against Jefferson pitcher Megan Payne in the second, but Agers flied out to center field for the third out.
The game remained 1-0 until the fifth when Halfmann singled and Agers moved her to third base on a double to left-center field. After Payne struck out Sophie Meyer, Baker delivered a two-run single that scored Halfmann and Agers to make it 3-0 Lancers. Stetina singled and senior Tori Ott walked to load the bases with two outs. Payne fanned sophomore Kaleen Vaugh to end the inning.
“(Baker’s) been struggling a little bit and I don’t think she’s liked her swing,” Halley said. “But she moved to first base this year and solidified that position. Offensively, she’s done some good things and she came up big with that single.”
Senior Catryn Cattoor, the Blue Jays’ starting catcher the last four years, is batting a team-leading .643 with 11 extra-base hits but was 0-for-2 against the Lancers. Agers said she has a specific game plan when pitching to Cattoor.
“I try moving my pitches around,” Agers said. “If I throw it inside to her, I throw it outside with my next pitch. I’m not throwing it anywhere on the white (home plate), it’s going to be on the edge.”
Jefferson head coach Robert Kuehnle said Cattoor has made the adjustment to batting third in the order, moving down from the leadoff spot.
“She’s really had to adapt with some things we’re doing,” Kuehnle said. “She usually sees a couple of at-bats and with her analytical thinking, she’s really good at seeing what the pitcher is doing. I can’t complain about a .643 batting average.”
Payne has been the Blue Jays’ busiest pitcher this year, leading the team with three wins, 38 2/3 innings pitched and 44 strikeouts. She was the losing pitcher in last year’s district game against St. Pius and struck out 11 Lancers in last week’s meeting.
“Megan did a great job. She’s suffering with some tendinitis in her (pitching) arm. I can’t be more proud of how she threw today,” Kuehnle said.
The Lancers used the bunt to move runners along on the bases against Jefferson.
“Bunting is a lost art in this game,” Halley said. “The kids want to hit and I don’t blame them. Only certain kids can buy into (bunting). Maybe I need to emphasize it more in practice. Today it was critical in winning and creating all of our runs.”
St. Pius won its third straight game with a 10-3 victory over De Soto on Monday.
Agers pitched all seven innings, striking out 13 Dragons while giving up three hits. She also had four hits, including a home run, scored three runs and had three RBIs. Agers has pitched all 49 innings this season and struck out 82 batters.
McKenna Nordin was 3-for-3 with a double and three runs scored for the Lancers.