A no-hitter by junior Kyra Jenkins Hayes helped Thunder Mountain High School (18-4) to an 8-0 win over Kodiak High School (6-4) in the ASAA Division II state softball tournament Thursday afternoon.
As the Falcons remained active on the bath paths with 10 hits and nine walks, Jenkins Hayes kept the Bears off them. She struck out a total of 10 while not allowing a single hit in six innings at Fairbanks’ South Davis Park.
Jenkins Hayes said she wasn’t trying to do it all herself.
“I just needed to try to get them to swing to try to get the defense to make outs but they weren’t hitting,” she said.
TMHS will play North Pole at 5 p.m. to wrap up Thursday’s pool play. The first-place teams in Pool A (TMHS, Kodiak, North Pole) and Pool B (Homer, Delta Junction, Ketchikan) at the end of the day receive a first-round bye in Friday’s double-elimination bracket play.
Kodiak freshman Leslie Spear allowed eight runs on 10 hits and walked nine.
TMHS’ Maxie Saceda-Hurt went 1-for-2 at the plate, walked twice and scored three runs while Nina Fenumiai went 2-for-2 with three RBI and two walks.
“We started a little bit slow and it seemed like when we hit the ball hard we were hitting it at them,” TMHS coach John Boucher said. “So we had to grind a bit but it all worked out pretty well.”
Trying to add to a 3-0 lead with two outs gone in the fourth inning, senior Rachel Macaulay doubled to right field. Spear walked the following three batters — Saceda-Hurt, Marissa Tanuvasa Tuvaifale and Fenumiai — to push the Falcons’ lead to 4-0. With a new set of runners on first, second and third, Jenkins Hayes hit a 2 RBI single to cap the three-run rally.
“My last couple at-bats were not that good and I just needed to get the ball on the ground and the shortstop let the ball past her,” Jenkins Hayes said.
The Falcons jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning. After Tanuvasa Tuvaifale singled to bring home Saceda-Hurt from third, Fenumiai scored Tanuvasa Tuvaifale on a double.
The same batters gave Spear trouble in the third inning when Saceda-Hurt scored for the Falcons.
Fenumiai and senior Megan Dallas scored the final runs of the game in the fifth and sixth innings.
If TMHS defeats North Pole, they will play the winner of Friday’s noon contest between the Pool B runner-up and Pool A third-place finisher.
• Contact sports reporter Nolin Ainsworth at 523-2272 or nainsworth@juneauempire.com. Follow Empire Sports on Twitter at @akempiresports.
Thunder Mountain High School junior Kyra Jenkins Hayes pitches against Kodiak High School in the ASAA Division II state softball tournament on Thursday at South Davis Park in Fairbanks. TMHS won 8-0. (Courtesy Photo | Sharla Hayes)
