It wasn’t very pretty.

Jefferson didn’t play to its usual high level. Washington wasn’t stellar, but it came ready to play.

No. 6 Jefferson played well enough to post a pair of softball wins. The J-Hawks won the first game, 6-0, then took the nightcap, 9-4, despite some sloppy play.

"The second game was hard to watch,” Jefferson Coach Larry Niemeyer said. “Our hitting was below average, our fielding was below average, our pitching was below average.”

Washington stuck around in the nightcap and made it more interesting than the J-Hawks (19-4, 12-1 MVC) would have liked. The Warriors (3-18, 1-15) battled back late in the game to put some unexpected pressure on the J-Hawks. Washington cut the J-Hawk lead to 6-4 before Jefferson eventually pulled away.

“We are a team that is going to fight for all seven innings,” Washington Coach Fanaye Wooldrik said. “We are a young team but we will outwork people. Hopefully, it will help us at the end of the year.”

The J-Hawks took the opener 6-0 in typical J-Hawk fashion, relying on the pitching of junior ace Hannah Petersen, who allowed just three hits.

“She’s a phenomenal pitcher, one of the best in the state,” Wooldrik said. “Our kids had a good mentality, (but) hats off to her, she throws great.”

While Petersen dominated in the circle, the J-Hawk offense put together a big second inning off Warrior pitcher sophomore Kristen Peterson. Jefferson strung together six hits to score six runs. The inning was capped off by back-to-back two-run singles by Petersen and junior Kenna Fry.

In the nightcap, the J-Hawks got on the board in the second when junior Carson Burgart doubled home sophomore Maddie Koolbeck, who had been hit by a pitch.

Jefferson added three in the third, sparked by Petersen's two-run double. They got two more in the fourth to take a 6-0 lead.

The Warriors got an unearned run in the fifth inning off senior Katie Naber. Washington then added three in the sixth off sophomore Brooke Stauffer. Run-scoring groundouts by freshman Hannah Schroeder and eighth grader Bree Linville narrowed the gap to 6-4.

Jefferson tacked on three runs in the sixth inning to put the game away.

Junior Rachel Sedlacek went 3-for-4 with an RBI and three stolen bases for Jefferson. Senior Jordan Birkicht-Carr scored twice and doubled for the Warriors. Birkicht-Carr also had a double in the first game.

Jefferson junior Carson Burgart was 2-for-3 in both games.

“I kept my hands back and waited to the ball,” Burgart said.

Jefferson plays a doubleheader at Cedar Falls on Wednesday night and at Kennedy on Thursday. Washington plays a doubleheader at Dubuque Hempstead on Thursday.

GAME 1

WASHINGTON (0)
Gail Burnum, LF, 3 0 1 0, Bria Lenten, 3B, 3 0 0 0, Kristen Peterson, P, 1 0 0 0, Jordan Pilcher, CF, 2 0 1 0, Samantha Short, C, 3 0 0 0, Hannah Schroeder, 1B, 3 0 0 0, Bree Linville, DP, 3 0 0 0, Jordan Birkicht-Carr, SS, 2 0 1 0, Alexis Riley, RF, 2 0 0 0, Caiti Peterson, 2B, 0 0 0 0. Totals 22 0 3 0.

JEFFERSON (6)
Rachel Sedlacek, LF, 4 1 0 1, Hannah Towns, 2B, 4 1 3 0, Hannah Petersen, P, 4 0 1 2, Katelyn Holub, cr, 0 1 0 0, Kenna Fry, 1B, 3 0 1 2, Maddie Hanson, DP, 3 0 0 0, Maddie Koolbeck, RF, 2 1 1 0, Hannah McInerney, 3B, 2 1 1 0, Carson Burgart, SS, 3 0 2 0, Ashley Madsen, CF, 2 0 1 0, Nicole Marquart, C, 0 0 0 0. Totals 28 6 10 6.

Washington 000 000 0 -  0  3 1
Jefferson     060 000 x -  6 10 0

K. Peterson and Short. Petersen and Marquart. W – Petersen L – K. Peterson 2B – Birkicht-Carr.

GAME 2

WASHINGTON (4)
Gail Burnum, LF, 3 0 0 0, Bria Lenten, 3B, 3 0 0 0, Kristen Peterson, 2B, 3 0 0 0, Jordan Pilcher, CF, 1 1 1 0, Samantha Short, C, 2 1 0 0, Hannah Schroeder, 1B, 2 0 0 1, Bree Linville, DP, 2 0 0 1, Jordan Birkicht-Carr, SS, 3 2 1 0, Alexis Riley, RF, 2 0 0 0, Caiti Peterson, P, 0 0 0 0. Totals 21 4 2 2.

JEFFERSON (9)
Rachel Sedlacek, LF, 4 3 3 1, Kailey Drake, CF, 3 1 1 1, Hannah Petersen, RF, 2 0 1 2, Amber Grimm, RF, 2 1 1 1, Maddie Koolbeck, 1B, 2 2 1 0, Dani Stromert, 1B, 1 1 1 1, Maddie Hanson, DP, 3 0 2 0, Carson Burgart, SS, 3 0 2 2, Maddy Blietz, 3B, 3 0 1 1, Kaitlyn Davidson, 2B, 3 0 0 0, Nicole Marquart, C, 3 0 0 0, Katelyn Holub, cr, 0 1 0 0, Katie Naber, P, 0 0 0 0, Brooke Stauffer, P, 0 0 0 0, Allissa Good, P, 0 0 0 0. Totals 29 9 13 9.

Washington 000 013 0 -  4  2 1
Jefferson     013 203 x -  9 13 3

C.Peterson and Short. Naber, Stauffer (6), Good (6) and Marquart. W – Naber. L – C. Peterson. 2B – Birkicht-Carr, Burgart, Hanson, Sedlacek, Drake, Petersen. SB – Riley, Sedlacek 3.