After waiting an extra week to get its season underway, the Jefferson bats came out hot Tuesday night at Prairie High School. The J-Hawks pounded out 16 hits in a 12-0 six-inning win in game one, then held the Hawks off 9-5 behind 12 hits in the nightcap to sweep the Mississippi Valley Conference softball doubleheader.

“I was pleased with how we hit the ball tonight,” Jefferson Coach Larry Niemeyer said. “We have really been working on getting on top of the ball and we did a good job of that tonight.”

No. 11 Jefferson (2-0) came into the night without having played a game. The J-Hawks' opener last week against Iowa City West was rained out. Prairie (2-1) was coming off a non-conference loss to Mount Vernon on Saturday.

The J-Hawks scored early and often to completely dominate the opener. Rachel Sedlacek, Kenna Fry, Maddie Koolbeck and Maddie Blietz had three hits apiece. Fry drove in three runs, Koolbeck and Blietz had two RBIs apiece.

The J-Hawks scored in every inning but the third and put up crooked numbers in each of the last three innings to end the game early. On the other side of the field, the Prairie Hawks could not get anything going against Jefferson ace Hannah Petersen. Despite battling an illness, Petersen tossed five strong innings, giving up no runs on only one hit.

Senior Katie Naber was not able to play for undisclosed reasons, so Petersen pitched the second game, too.

The nightcap was a much closer affair. Sedlacek, Petersen, Fry, Carson Burgart and Koolbeck had two hits apiece for the J-Hawks. Burgart had a pair of doubles and drove in two runs. Fry hit a two-run home run and Koolbeck had a triple.

After Fry slugged her homer to extend the J-Hawks lead to 6-3 in the top of the fifth inning, Prairie senior Katie Carver pulled the Hawks within 6-5 with a two-run blast of her own.

Jefferson closed out Prairie by tacking on three more runs in the seventh and shutting the Hawks down in the home half. Despite the final outcome, the Hawks showed some life in the second game, banging out eight hits. Carver, batting ninth in the order, had two hits.

“We had a better approach and focus in the second game,” Prairie Coach Kimi Hynek said. “I think we hit the ball better in the second game. Hopefully, we keep it going through the rest of the week.”

Jefferson hosts eighth-ranked Waterloo West on Thursday. Prairie plays at Waterloo East on Thursday.

GAME  1
JEEFERSON (12)
Rachel Sedlacek, lf,  5 2 3 1, Kailey Drake, rf, 3 1 1 0, Amber Grimm, rf, 0 0 0 0, Hannah Petersen, p,  4 2 2 1, Hannah Towns, pr, 0 0 0 0, Brooke Stauffer, p, 0 0 0 0, Kenna Fry, 1b, 4 1 3 3, Dani Stromert, 1b, 0 0 0 0, Carson Burgart, ss, 3 1 1 0, Maddie Koolbeck, dp, 4 3 3 2, Kaitlyn Davidson, 2b, 3 1 0 0, Maddy Blietz, 3b, 4 1 3 2, Nicole Marquart, c, 4 0 0 0, Ashley Madsen, cf, 0 0 0 0. Totals 34 12 16 9.

PRAIRIE (0)
Shelby Crist, c, 3 0 0 0, Taylor Stecklein, 2b, 3 0 0 0, Katie Kuch, p, 3 0 0 0, Katie Wieland, ss, 3 0 1 0, Mackenzie Blaha, lf, 3 0 1 0, Brittney Lash, 3b, 1 0 0 0, Alyson O’Brian, rf, 2 0 0 0, Samantha Frederick, 1b, 1 0 0 0, Katie Carver, cf, 2 0 0 0. Totals 21 0 2 0.

Jefferson  120 324 -- 12 16 0   
Prairie      000 000 --  0 2 4

Petersen, Stauffer (6), and Marquart. Kuch and Crist. W – Petersen (1-0) L – Kuch. 2B – Sedlacek, Petersen, Fry, Burgart, Blietz 2. SB – Davidson.

GAME 2
JEFFERSON (9)
Rachel Sedlacek, lf, 4 2 2 0, Kailey Drake, rf, 2 2 1 0, Hannah Petersen, p, 3 2 2 0, Hannah Towns, pr, 0 0 0 0, Kenna Fry, 1b, 4 2 2 2, Carson Burgart, ss, 4 1 2 2, Maddie Koolbeck, dp, 4 0 2 1, Kaitlyn Davidson, 2b, 4 0 1 1, Maddy Blietz, 3b, 4 0 0 0, Nicole Marquart, c, 3 0 0 0. Totals 32 9 12 6.

PRAIRIE (5)
Shelby Crist, c, 4 1 1 0, Taylor Stecklein, 2b, 4 1 1 0, Mackenzie Blaha, lf, 4 0 1 0, Katie Wieland, ss, 4 1 1 1, Alyson O’Brian, dp, 4 0 1 0, Kaitlyn Baetsle 2 0 0 0, Katie Kuch, p, 1 0 0 0, Brittney Lash, rf, 3 1 1 0, Samantha Frederick, 1b, 3 0 0 0, Katie Carver, cf, 3 1 2 2. Totals 32 5 8 3.

Jefferson   211 020 3 -- 9 12 3
Prairie        003 002 0 --  5 7 5

Petersen and Marquart. Baetsle, Kuch (5) and Crist. W – Petersen (2-0) L – Baetsle. 2B – Petersen, Fry, Burgart 2, Wieland, Lash, Carver. 3B – Koolbeck, Crist. HR – Fry, Carver. SB – Sedlacek 2, Drake, Crist, Stecklein.