Jones’ No-hitter Fuels RedStorm’s Sweep of Rams

RIO GRANDE, Ohio – Simply being good on Good Friday was not good enough for the University of Rio Grande’s Jenna Jones.

The freshman right-hander from Lancaster, Ohio was, for lack of a better term, great inside the pitcher’s circle.

Jones fired the second no-hitter of her collegiate career to fuel a game one win and spark the RedStorm’s doubleheader sweep of Bluefield (Va.) College in Mid-South Conference action at a sun-splashed Rio Softball Park.

Rio Grande, which won the opener 4-0 before posting an 11-4 triumph in the nightcap, improved to 24-13 overall and 16-10 in league play with the victories.

Bluefield, which saw its losing streak reach 17 straight games by day’s end, dropped to 3-41 overall and 1-29 in the MSC.

Jones, who lost a no-hit bid against the Rams on March 22 with two outs in the seventh inning, retired the final 16 batters she faced on Friday. She allowed only a two-out walk in each of the first two innings, while BC’s only other baserunner also reached in the second inning as a result of an error.

Jones had previously no-hit the University of Pikeville on March 21 – Rio’s first no-hitter in nearly five years.

The RedStorm backed up Jones’ pitching performance by scoring once in the third inning, twice in the fourth and once more in the sixth against Bluefield starter Ali Bartley.

Freshman Brittany Walk (Unionville Center, OH) reached on a three-base error to start the third inning and scored moments later on a Bartley wild pitch, while freshman Alex Kuhn (Oak Hill, OH) had an RBI triple and freshman Kari Jenkins (Jackson, OH) followed with a run-scoring single in the fourth.

Jenkins added a sacrifice fly in the sixth inning for the game’s final run.

Kuhn finished 2-for-3 in the win, while sophomore Kim Rollins (Cincinnati, OH) added a double in the winning effort.

Bartley (0-5) allowed just six hits and three earned runs while striking out two in the loss for the Rams.

In the nightcap, Rio Grande spotted BC a 2-0 first inning lead before roaring back with three runs in the third inning and five runs in the fifth to open up a 9-2 advantage.

Kuhn had a two-run triple to highlight the three-run third, while junior Haley Gwin (Troy, OH) had a run-scoring triple and Kuhn followed with an RBI single to kickstart the five-run fifth.

The Rams, who parlayed two hits and three Rio errors into their two first inning runs, scored twice more in the sixth to pull within 9-4, but the RedStorm got the runs back in the bottom of the frame on sacrifice flies by Gwin and Kuhn.

Kuhn finished 3-for-3 with four RBIs, while Gwin had two hits and knocked in three runs. Jones also had three hits, including a double, while Jenkins finished 2-for-4 and freshman Shanea Long (Wellston, OH) had a pair of RBIs.

Freshman Tiffany Bise (Circleville, OH) earned her 11th win in 14 decisions, allowing six hits and two earned runs over 5-2/3 innings.

Anna Davis went the distance in the circle for BC, slipping to 1-10 on the season.

Morgan Stephens had two hits and drove in a run for the Rams, while Kasey Holcomb also had two hits and Madison Fielder drove in a run in the loss.

Rio Grande continues its 10-game homestand on Saturday afternoon when the University of Pikeville visits for a doubleheader beginning at 2 p.m. EDT.

Live video and play-by-play of both games will be available at www.ihigh.com/redstorm beginning at 1:50 p.m.