A nagging back injury that has bothered Lafayette Jeff's Ashtin Baumgardt since she was 13 was not going to ruin her senior season.

After missing five games, the senior pitcher returned to the circle Monday night and looked dominant.

Baumgardt (3-0) gave up just five hits, three of those bunt singles, with seven strikeouts in the Bronchos' 5-1 home victory over Central Catholic.

"At first I was a little nervous, but after that first pitch, I was ready to go," Baumgardt said. "I was just so comfortable."

Baumgardt also went 2-for-3 at the plate. In her first at-bat, she was thrown out by the right fielder on a sharply hit ball that hopped right to the defense.

"I am not known for my speed," Baumgardt jokingly said afterwards.

Central Catholic left seven players on base in the first five innings, six of those in scoring position. The Knights also made four errors in the infield, which contributed to three unearned Broncho runs in the third.

After starting 3-0, CC has lost three of its last four games.

"You can only use the excuse that they're young for so long," CC coach Ashley Perry said. "We've got 15 kids sitting in there who work hard every day. I think the definition of insane is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.

"That's sort of where I am, so we're just going to mix things up. At some point, we have to find a winning combination. They are a good team, but they are not four runs better."

Tori Crouch went 2-for-3 for Lafayette Jeff (5-4) and scored the game's first run during that third inning.

Crouch singled and worked her way around the bases on sacrifice bunts and a CC throwing error. Connor Garrity drove in Zoee Anderson, who reached base on the throwing error.

Freshman Kaitlynn Moody supplied more offense with a solo home run with two outs. It was the first home run by a Bronchos player this season.

"Her first at-bat, she didn't swing all the way through," Jeff senior Jaime Whalley said. "We told her, 'Kaitlynn, if you swing all the way through, it's going over.' When she went up to bat, she hit it over and we all stopped and just looked at each other. It was crazy."

The Knights scored in the fourth when Sydney Martin's bunt single brought Kelsey Harding across the plate.

The Bronchos added two insurance runs in the fifth, one on Kaitlyn Perez's double that scored Moody and another on a squeeze by Erin West to score courtesy runner Abby Springs.