Staff photo / Brian Yauger LaBrae’s Mariah Jones is congratulated by teammates after hitting her second home run of the afternoon against Brookfield on Wednesday in Leavittsburg. The Vikings won 11-5.

LEAVITTSBURG — While they got pushed early, the LaBrae softball team wasn’t kept down for long. The LaBrae bats came alive in the third inning, pushing the Vikings to an 11-5 victory over Brookfield on Wednesday.

“Brookfield came to play tonight,” LaBrae coach Dwayne Buck said. “They started off strong and put a little pressure on us, and it was a great test for us, because I wanted to see how they responded, and as you can see, they responded well. It’s nice.”

Mariah Jones, who missed most of last season with an injury, showed few signs of rust, hitting a pair of two-run home runs for the Vikings.

While Jones was the one who took over the game against Brookfield, Buck noted that there’s several girls who are capable of doing that. LaBrae (2-1, 1-0) has no shortage of firepower.

“She’s so good,” he said. “We’ve got a handful of really good players. I’m gonna say our hitting, we’re easily six or seven strong. Anybody can do it on any day. Today with Mariah, next game it might be someone else. (Shelby Bragg) is a menace on the bases, and keeping her off the bases is tough. Riley Rowe, who broke our home run record last year, then you got other people like Leah DeArmitt and Morgan Thompson, and then our freshman starter, Isabella Michael, she hits the ball well.”

Coming off winning a district championship without one of their top hitters, making back-to-back trips to regionals is the expectation for LaBrae. The goal is to play at Firestone, but that’s a long way away. Buck wants to see constant improvement in his group and make sure they peak at the right time.

“Get better every day,” Buck said. “I always tell them that I don’t want to be playing our best ball right now. If we’re playing our best ball right now, we’re in trouble. Every team is going to peak at some time, whether it’s early, midseason, late season. Right now, I’d rather see some mistakes and let’s learn from them. Get better. Keep building and peak at the right time heading into the playoffs.”

While young, the Warriors have plenty to be optimistic about. Heading into its first league contest of the season, Brookfield (2-1, 0-1) tallied 28 runs in its first two games. The Warriors showcased their firepower early in the game, scoring a pair of runs in each of the first two innings, but youthful errors reared their head.

After the game, Brookfield coach Dave DeJoy talked to his team about a complete seven-inning effort. LaBrae was a great early-season test for a group with a lineup that needs varsity experience.

“I want to create a mentality with the girls that we don’t need to fear anyone, that we just need to go compete every game and put a full seven innings together, and tonight we didn’t do that,” DeJoy said. “We played four good innings, but we need to play seven, sometimes more. We might have only had three or four errors on the box, but there’s several balls in the field that we should have had and made some defensive plays that we just didn’t make tonight.”

As Brookfield’s younger players get more experience, expect to see that comfort level go up. After a few down seasons for the Warriors, DeJoy thinks this group can turn the corner.

“We’ve got some talent up and down the lineup, but it’s the first varsity experience for some, and we have a lot of freshmen and sophomores starting for us,” DeJoy said. “We do have (Madison Obermiyer) as a junior in the circle, but just we’ll get them together, and we’ll just keep working and trying to improve and turn a few more corners. That’s our whole goal this year, is to just turn some corners and try to improve as a group and as a team.”

The teams are set to meet again tonight in Brookfield. First pitch is scheduled for 5 p.m.