Sports
Jenna Jones Leads Rio Grande To 4-0 Weekend
By: Ryan Lewis
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After a two-day road trip that included two double-headers, the Rio RedStorm (14-7) come home with a perfect 4-0 record thanks to freshman pitcher Jenna Jones.
On Friday, Jones started the first game of each double-header. In the first game against the University of Pikeville Bears (3-12), Jones pitched her first career no-hitter. It was nearly a perfect game, but Jones gave up one walk. The no-hitter was the first for Rio Grande since Anna Smith’s no-hitter 2009.
The RedStorm won the first game by a 2-0 margin. Despite only recording three hits themselves, the RedStorm had plenty of defense to back the poor offense. Haley Gwin had a solo home run to give Rio Grande a 1-0 lead early on and an RBI to give the Storm the 2-0 victory.
In the second game of the double-header between the RedStorm and Bears, the bats did the talking. The RedStorm finished the game with nine hits and seven runs. Anna Roder led Rio Grande with two hits, two RBIs and a home run. The RedStorm had another home run, coming from sophomore Kim Rollins.
Tiffany Bise pitched a complete game against the Bears in game two. Bise gave up 11 hits and three runs with two ERs.
Saturday wasn’t much different for the RedStorm. They faced the second worst team in the Mid-South Conference, the 2-24 Bluefield Rams. Jones got the start of the first game again and had nearly another perfect game. In another complete game for Jones, she would only allow one hit and zero runs. She also had four strikeouts on the afternoon.
The RedStorm faced Brienna Sparks on the mound in game one. Rio Grande was able to get six hits and just two runs off of Sparks. Kari Jenkis was the RedStorm’s leading hitter, as she recorded two hits and Haley Gwin recorded two RBIs on the outing.
In the second game against the Rams, it was a much closer match. The game was tied 4-4 going into the sixth inning until Alex Kuhn scored off of a throwing error. Rollins came through again with the big bat and had another solo home run. Kari Jenkins tallied with two hits and a RBI, while Haley Gwin led the team with two RBIs in the game.
Tiffany Bise only pitched five innings after giving up nine hits and accumulated 4 ERs on the outing. Jones finished the game by giving up just one more hit.
With the RedStorm’s four wins, they jumped ahead four spots in the league standings and are now in third place, only behind Lindsay Wilson and Campbellsville.