Mineola sophomore Jadelyn Marshall tossed a 7-inning gem last Saturday and recorded a 3-2 win over the visiting Winnsboro Lady Raiders. Both teams came into the game with undefeated district records, and thanks largely to Marshall’s excellent outing in the circle, Mineola sits atop District 13-3A at the halfway mark. 

Marshall was in control of the strike zone all day. She exploited the outside corner, issued only one base-on-balls and was rarely behind in the count. 

Her control and pitch selection generated 15 ground-ball outs. And the Lady Jackets were ready to make those plays. The only error in the field came from Marshall herself, when she hurried a throw to first base after fielding a dribbler in front of the plate. 

Mahayla McMahon made three put-outs from her third-base position, second baseman Jorja Young recorded seven, and first baseman Journie Wilson completed three plays unassisted. In the sixth, Wilson made a nice backhanded stop on a sharply hit one-hopper to shut down a Winnsboro rally.

The Lady Jackets generated three runs from ten hits with seven players recording hits. The offense was led by Caroline Castleberry, who went 3 for 4 from the right side of the plate. Castleberry beat out a grounder in the first, slapped a base hit back up the middle in third and eclipsed a throw to first in the fifth for a base hit.

The Jackets put up one run in the second inning. With two outs, Gracie Lindley lined a clean single to left. She advanced to scoring position on a wild pitch and scored on Marshall’s single to center.

Mineola added two runs in the third.

Castleberry led off with a single and was chased home by Mahayla McMahon’s rocket over the head of the Winnsboro left-fielder. McMahon was in with a stand-up triple.  She scored on a textbook RBI-bunt single by Jaycee Smith.

Marshall cruised along through the fourth and fifth, facing only seven hitters.

Winnsboro rallied for two runs in the sixth. They took advantage of that lone Mineola error to put the lead-off hitter on base. The next batsman drilled a double to right field. The relay throw from Lindley in right was accurate and allowed Mineola to gun down the Lady Raider at the plate. Smith was able to turn and make the tag an instant before the runner’s hand touched the plate. 

With one out and a runner on second, the number three Winnsboro hitter sent a low hard liner into right which skirted to the fence. She sped around the bases for an inside-the-park home run. Marshall got the next two hitters on ground ball outs, but Winnsboro had closed the score to 3-2.

Kaitlyn McMahon reached in the bottom half with a single to center. She was left on base, however, and the game went to the seventh with Mineola leading by a single run.

Marshall got the first out of the seventh on a ground ball to third and ended the game with back-to-back strike-outs – the last with the batter watching. 

It was a complete game win for the Lady Jackets. Smart, efficient pitching, solid defense, and offense generated from throughout the line-up remain a recipe for success in scholastic softball. Saturday, the Lady Jackets had all three. 

Mineola hosts Quitman Friday at 10 a.m. to begin the second round of district play.