An inconspicuous play Tuesday underscored the progress Lake Central’s Jessi Kiefor has made since she was involved in a car crash in August.
The senior outfielder sprinted toward a foul ball in left, pursued with gusto and nearly made a difficult catch.
“That’s a ball even two weeks ago she doesn’t even come close to — she doesn’t,” Indians coach Jeff Sherman said. “But now she feels so much more comfortable with everything and she looks good.”
Including at the plate.
The Ball State recruit went 3-for-3 with two doubles and three RBIs as Lake Central posted a 10-0 Duneland Athletic Conference win in six innings over visiting Valparaiso.
“I was seeing the ball really well and I was a lot more comfortable with my swing,” Kiefor said. “I just felt really loose during warmups. I had a good hope for this game.
“Throughout the season, I’ve been getting back into it, and these past few at-bats I’ve been feeling really good. I feel like I’m going 100 percent. I don’t hold back anymore. I don’t know if I’m not physically there and not being honest, but I feel great.”
Among the assortment of injuries, Kiefor suffered a broken left ankle and a detached right ACL. She has to continue wearing a brace on her knee until August.
Kiefor was medically released in March, though Sherman initially thought she wouldn’t return until May. Still, it’s been a process.
“She’s been through so much,” Sherman said. “A game like this is huge. You have to feel good for her. We talked early on about every at-bat the first few weeks just helping her for about now. She’s finally started to see that and maybe I was right.
“She worked really hard — good days, bad days and everything in between — to get back a month-and-a-half to two months ahead of schedule.”
Kiefor said there were “some really bad days” but Tuesday clearly was a good one.
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Her two-run double in the second gave Lake Central (19-3, 11-1), ranked No. 2 in the Class 4A state coaches poll, a 3-0 lead over Valparaiso (10-7, 6-6). She added an RBI double in the fifth.
In between, Kiefor had a single in the fourth as the Indians batted around to score five runs on four hits.
“If one person gets a hit, we get rolling,” she said. “It’s like a chain reaction. We started off hitting and it kept rolling. We didn’t start slow and have to pick it up at the end.”
Alexa Pinarski (12-2) pitched a two-hitter with nine strikeouts and two walks. With the Indians having last played Wednesday, the Columbia recruit took off three days last week to “recharge” before getting back to work over the weekend.
“I felt really good,” Pinarski said. “I fixed some things and it helped get my velocity up.”
Alex Burns’ infield single in the fourth and Peyton Zahm’s blooper in the sixth were the Vikings’ only hits.
“She looked loose and fluid in everything she did,” Sherman said of Pinarski.
Valparaiso coach Tracy Corneil took the result in stride.
“They’re good,” she said. “They have a lot of great things going on there. They hit well, they defend well, and with Pinarski in the circle, they pitch well. We had trouble hitting her, and defensively we were tentative.
“We really created opportunities for them, and you can’t do that against good teams. You really have to take the upper hand, make some plays and put some pressure on them.”
Twitter @MichaelOsipoff