UNION — With Northeast Lauderdale runners occupying first, second and third, Union centerfielder DaShayla Jackson crouched in the outfield as Jimmyia Smith entered the batter’s box with the Lady Trojans’ sixth at-bat of the top of the fifth inning.

Smith smacked Britli Cleveland’s pitch toward center field, and Jackson began her beeline toward the softball, which tracked to the center-left gap.

As Jackson dove for the ball, she extended herself with her glove outstretched, head first. When Jackson lifted both her head and glove from the turf, she flashed the ball, which elicited a chorus of cheers from the Union dugout, as the out closed the frame and ended the Lady Trojans’ scoring threat.

Feeding off Jackson’s defensive energy, Union batters peppered Northeast Lauderdale for four runs in the bottom half of the inning to lift the Ladyjackets to a 12-2 home win against Northeast Lauderdale Monday night in a run-rule-shortened game. 

“Making big plays like that one on defense — because the bases were loaded and it was a diving catch in center — making a big play like that gets everybody energized, and it gets everybody fired up,” Union coach Jacob Casey said. “It carried over to that next inning.”

Jackson’s web gem serving as the catalyst, Union entered the bottom of the fifth, and like it’s done all season, used small ball to inflict its damage.

With the second at-bat of the bottom of the fifth, Kayleigh Vance singled with a bunt, and Kenley Pullin followed and reached base via a Northeast Lauderdale error.

Jordan Turner plated Vance with an RBI single, courtesy of another bunt, and Northeast Lauderdale (2-10) fumbled an Abby Jenkins bunt that scored Pullin and pushed Union (3-5) ahead 8-2. 

Jackson knocked in Turner with sacrifice RBI, and Jenkins scored during the following at-bat after another Northeast Lauderdale error allowed McKenlee McDaniel to reach first base.

“That’s just the sign of a team that’s coming together and starting to play a little better and kind of getting a little more excited and more fire behind them,” Casey said. “That’s what I’m proud of. (Jackson) made a great catch, and that did a lot for us as far as getting us a little bit of fire and a little bit of spark for that next inning.”

After losing five seniors — four of which are currently on junior college rosters —  and a bank of power from last year, Casey said his team has approached this season differently.

Union attempted seven bunts in the contest and stole five bases. Ansley Rigby led the way with two swiped bags. 

“Last year, we had a lot of players who could hit doubles, home runs, and hit the ball off the fence,” Casey said. “This year, we don’t have that, so we have to find other ways to win ball games, so we’re going to things like bunt and steal, and we did that tonight. We executed well, and if we do things like that, like I’ve been telling the girls, if we can execute and play small ball and put pressure on the defense, we can win a lot of ball games doing that.”

Cleveland earned the pitching win. She allowed four hits, walked four batters and struck out two.

Northeast Lauderdale, which committed five errors, led 2-0 to enter the second inning. Haily Backus and Molly Moore scored the Lady Trojans’ two runs.

Union out-hit Northeast Lauderdale 12-4.

“They did a good job and made good defensive plays — we didn’t get enough timely hits,” Northeast Lauderdale coach Travis Cornish said. “We get girls on base, and we need to hit singles and doubles. We have to score. We’re not good enough to leave girls on bases consistently throughout the game, which is what we did tonight.”

Turner smacked a team-high three hits for Union, while Rigby, Vance and Pullin finished with two hits apiece. Anna Grace Blount, Pullin and Turner each tallied two RBIs.

Up next: Northeast Lauderdale hosts Quitman Tuesday, while Union travels to Philadelphia Friday.