COLUMBIA -- The Jefferson City Lady Jays opened play Friday in the Kewpie Classic with a pair of wins, beating the Lee's Summit West Lady Titans 5-3 and the Oak Grove Lady Panthers 4-1 at Antimi Sports Complex.
The Lady Titans got out to an early lead in Game 1 with a two-run first, but the Lady Jays took the lead for good with a three-run third.
Kaylee Redcay led off the bottom of the third with a walk and Finley Walker followed with a bunt single to move Redcay to third. Jaela Nickerson then singled to score Redcay, and Summer Branch followed with an RBI single to tie the game. Two batters later, Maleighka Luebbering singled to score Nickerson and take a 3-2 lead.
Jefferson City got an insurance run in each of the next two innings, as Nickerson drove in Allison Carwile with a sacrifice fly in the fourth and Carwile drove in courtesy runner Riley Oesch with a groundout in the fifth.
Lee's Summit West scored its final run in the top of the fifth on an RBI double.
Nickerson finished 2-for-3 with two RBI to pace an eight-hit attack from the Lady Jays. Branch pitched all six innings, allowing three runs on nine hits to go with eight strikeouts and one walk.
Jefferson City fell behind again in the top of the first of Game 2 after Oak Grove scored its lone run.
The Lady Jays trailed until the bottom of the fifth when Branch singled in Carwile to tie the game at 1.
Jefferson City then moved ahead for good with a three-run sixth.
Jillian Cripe, KaShya Levi and Carwile each got on base to start the frame and load the bases with no outs. Levi and Carwile then scored on an error two batters later, and Nickerson added a sacrifice fly as the next batter to create the final margin.
Branch finished with two of the Lady Jays' five hits and drove in a run, also picking up a win in the circle after allowing just an unearned run on five hits. Branch struck out nine batters and walked two.
Jefferson City (13-8) will be the No. 2 seed out of nine teams in today's single-elimination bracket play. The Lady Jays play seventh-seeded Marquette at 11 a.m.