Home runs aplenty

MARION - Rachel Sedlacek led off with a home run Thursday night to set the tone for the Cedar Rapids Jefferson softball team at Linn-Mar.The J-Hawks hit six homers en route to a sweep of the Lions.“When we hit the ball it's always fun,” J-Hawk assistant coach Nick Niemeyer said.Jefferson Coach Larry Niemeyer, who had kidney surgery early this week, was back on the bench but deferred to his son for postgame comments.The J-Hawks (21-3) hit three first-inning homers while erupting for 10 runs in the opener. They added another homer en route to a 14-2 victory in five innings.Senior Kenna Fry had four hits, two of them home runs, in the first game and added four RBIs. Sedlacek had two hits and scored two runs.Linn-Mar got on the board in the fourth inning when sophomore Maggie Rizor and freshman Maddy Ryan drove in runs. But J-Hawk senior pitcher Hannah Petersen gave up just those two runs on five hits, striking out seven.The nightcap was much of the same from the J-Hawks, who pounded out 14 more runs for a 14-4 victory in five innings once again.This game belonged to Jefferson senior Hannah McInerney, who hit a third-inning grand slam to extend the J-Hawks' lead to nine runs.“It felt really good,” McInerney said. “I've never done that before.”McInerney did something else she had never done before in the fourth inning, adding a second homer to drive in her fifth and sixth RBIs of the game. She finished with five hits in the doubleheader.“Most of us have been playing since we were little together so we work well as a team together,” she said. “I feel this is a big year for us.”Rizor once again led Linn-Mar, driving in a pair of runs on two hits in the nightcap.