Chester softball improves to 8-0

<span>VERGENNES -- Already off to their best start in recent memory, the Chester Lady Yellow Jackets kept their hot streak going with a 8-1 win over Elverado on Friday.</span>

<span>Chester (8-0) scored the bulk of its runs in the first two innings and then put it in cruise control until adding two runs in the top of the seventh.</span>

<span>"It was a game everybody could stay in because we got a lot of people in," said Chester coach Tracy Colvis. "It was hard for some people. They would play two innings and they'd sit and then they'd play two innings and they'd sit.</span>

<span>"But, you're going to have those kinds of games and it's good for the girls to get some playing time who haven't had a lot."</span>

<span>Miah Mitchell got things started for Chester with a leadoff single in the first inning and she later advanced to third on a stolen base and wild pitch.</span>

<span>Mitchell then scored on Logan Colvis's one-out single.</span>

<span>Chester later loaded the bases on Elverado freshman starter Allie Whittington before plating two runs on a single by Shea Petrowske to take a 4-0 lead.</span>

<span>Petrowske picked up the win in the circle for Chester, allowing one earned run on two hits with three walks and two strikeouts. It was her second win of the season and first since March 28 against Shawnee.</span>

<span>"I think she did a really good job," Colvis said. "She's a freshman and she's learning to throw some junk pitches and stuff.</span>

<span>"She's doing a good job. We've just got to get her to work ahead in the count so she can throw her dropball, screwball, changeup."</span>

<span>After allowing another two runs in the second inning, Whittington settled down and held Chester scoreless until the seventh. The right-hander allowed 11 hits and five walks, but also struck out 10.</span>

<span>Elverado got its lone run in the bottom of the fourth, when Baylie McClanahan led off with a double and later scored on a wild pitch.</span>

<span>With the victory, Chester is now more than halfway to the school's single-season wins mark of 15, set in 1992.</span>

<span>"I think it's done great for their confidence, but we've got to keep going," Colvis said of the team's hot start. "I keep trying to remind them that we've got to keep shooting.</span>

<span>"It doesn't matter what we've done, that's the past, we've got to look to the future. We could lose the rest of the games and never make it, so they should still keep going."</span>

<span>Colvis finished 2-for-4 for the Lady Yellow Jackets, while Alyssa Keith went 2-for-4 with a double and Mitchell finished 2-for-2 with a pair of singles.</span>

<span>Chester has now outscored its opposition 50-4 in its last four games.</span>