Coast softball star strikes out 500th career batter. She’s only a sophomore
Bristol Jones reached 500 career strikeouts in immaculate fashion.
Pass Christian’s super sophomore pitcher entered Friday’s 4A first-round playoff game against Lawrence County with 498 strikeouts. She needed just six pitches to reach the milestone and left the first inning with 501 strikeouts with three punchouts on the minimum nine pitches.
“It means a lot to me,” Jones said after the game. “But I wouldn’t be where I am today without the team I have around me. They mean a lot to me.”
Jones would pack up the first seven batters she faced via swing-and-miss in a 10-0 five-inning win for the Lady Pirates. She left the circle with 13 strikeouts against 17 batters faced.
Pass Christian backed up its star pitcher with three runs scored on one swing over the fence by Kaylee Cobern. Jones helped herself out in the second inning with a two-run base hit and closed the game with the walk-off RBI single in the fifth.
“She’s a softball player, I wouldn’t consider her a pitcher or a hitter, I consider her a softball player,” Pass Christian coach DJ Elkins said. “She knows how to maximize everything she has.”
Jones extended her scoreless innings streak to 24 in the win with her fourth consecutive complete game shutout. She also reached double-digit strikeouts for the 10th straight game.
Jones is able to dominate from the circle by leveraging her advantageous height and lower body strength to hurl a fastball that Elkins has clocked as high as 64 miles per hour. That gives batters less than 0.4 seconds to see the ball, decide to swing and then put the bat through the zone.
With her release point coming at the front of the circle, the reaction time afforded by Jones is equivalent to that of a Major League batter facing a pitch north of 100 MPH.
“She’s a power arm,” Elkins said. “She has really good stuff. It’s not a flat fastball, it moves. She has good secondary stuff that she works with. She’s a coaches dream.”
Jones’ success comes in her preparation, according to Elkins. Both he and Jones point to the teammates around her who provide high-level defense and run support.
Pass Christian has three different players batting at least .450: Mia Lacy, Kayden Scheid and Jones. The Lady Pirates have five in a row and are now 13-1 at home.
Powered by Jones and her now 511 career strikeouts, The Pass hopes to make a deep run in the postseason.
“The preparation this week has been phenomenal,” Elkins said. “They came out here with a very good mindset Monday and worked their butts off. They are just excited to get to play.”
