Jefferson sweeps Xavier, claims MVC division title

Brian Erbe doesn't recall the source, but he has the quote down pat.

"I don't know where I heard it, and I don't know who said it, but the old adage is that good pitching beats good hitting," said Erbe, softball coach at Cedar Rapids Xavier.

"It did tonight."

Hannah Petersen and Katie Naber kept the potent Xavier bats under wraps for the most part, and Class 4A third-rated Cedar Rapids Jefferson wrapped up the MVC Valley Division title with a 5-0, 3-2 sweep of No. 12 Xavier last night at the Jefferson Softball Complex.

Petersen scattered five hits in a shutout, and Naber allowed four as Jefferson (26-5 overall, 17-3 MVC) claimed Metro superiority.

"Our pitching was pretty good," said Jefferson Coach Larry Niemeyer. "Xavier really hits the ball. Look at their batting averages.

"We had a plan that we wanted to follow, a certain way that we wanted to pitch. The girls hit their spots, and any time you get a lead it makes a huge difference."

Jefferson broke open the first game with a fourrun fourth inning behind RBI singles by Carson Burgart, Rachel Sedlacek and Morgan Allee. That made it 5-0, which was more than enough for Petersen.

Allee was 5-for-7 in the twinbill. Her single in the first inning got the J-Hawks on the board in the second game. Allee scored on Petersen's sacrifice fly to make it 2-0.

Burgart's sacrifice fly in the fourth extended the advantage to 3-0 before the Saints (23-7, 13-5) finally broke the ice in the top of the fifth on Abby Bedard's two-run, two-out single.

Naber then retired the final seven batters she faced to close the sweep.