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FERRIDAY — The Jean High School Lady Giants used a six-run barrage in the top of the fourth inning to open up a close game as they cruised to a 12-2 win over the Delta Charter School Lady Storm Monday afternoon.

Jena’s starting pitcher, No. 6 (no name given), did not allow a single base hit, struck out eight, walked just one and hit one batter over four innings. However, she was pulled despite throwing just 60 pitches, 45 of them for strikes, in that span. Yet Beach said she was not surprised about that call.

“No, because the other girl that pitched against, they beat us 11-1 last Monday (March 29),” Beach said. “She doesn’t throw hard, but she throws the ball well. We scored two runs off her.”

That other girl she was referring to was No. 5 (again, no name given), and she was by no way a slouch herself. She allowed two runs, one earned, on five hits with two strikeouts and no walks in three innings. Of the 41 pitches she threw, 31 of them were for strikes.

Jena scored one run each in the top of the first and second inning for a 2-0 lead and Delta Charter staring pitcher Jaden Boydstun did her best to give the Lady Storm a chance to get back in the game over the first three innings, but No. 6 was getting strikeout after strikeout and made sure no rally would take place.

Boydstun went five and one-third innings, giving up 10 runs, only three earned, on 14 hits, struck out six, walked five, and threw 143 pitches. Makenzy Hawley pitched one and two-thirds inning of relief and allowed two earned runs on three hits with one strikeout and no walks.

The Lady Giants finally got on track offensively in the top of the fourth and got some help from the Lady Storm’s defense to take an 8-0 lead. They would added two runs in the top of the sixth inning and two more in the top of the seventh.

“Jena, they’re a good team. They played well. They have a strong line-up, one through nine,” Beach said. “We made a few errors in the infield and in the outfield. We let a few ground balls go by us in the outfield. We had a couple of throwing errors in the infield. The score should’ve been closer than what it was. I look forward to playing them again next year because I like playing against good competition.”

Sydney Burns went 2-for-3 with a double and one run scored. Ally Atwood scored the other run for the Lady Storm.