SHEPHERDSTOWN — Too long. After losing at Hampshire and being stalled by the inclement weather, Jefferson was going to have a week between games.

The taste of the loss to Hampshire in a game that had a one hour and 32 minute weather delay, lingered in the Cougar camp. A scheduled doubleheader last Saturday against Grace Academy was weathered out.

So, Jefferson Coach John Lowery hurriedly found a game for this past Monday against Scotland (Pa.) Prep. The timing seemed a necessity if the Cougars weren’t going to show rust when they were to play a Region II, Section 2 game on Wednesday, May 8.

Scotland is a prep school that allows high school post-graduates to play.

Lowery kept his pitchers in a rhythm of sorts by allowing four of them to get work against the Knights. He was rewarded with a 5-0 win.

James Walsh (two innings), Taylor Tennant (one inning), Zac Rose (two innings) and Cullen Horowicz (two innings) smothered the Scotland bats in strikes and strikeouts as Jefferson won 5-0 in shutout fashion to close out the regular season with a 23-6 overall record.

The foursome combined for nine strikeouts. Walsh and Tennant did not allow any walks. Rose hit a batter, but Horowicz walked four in struggling to keep the Knights scoreless.

The three walks Jefferson gleaned off Scotland’s starting left-hander Hodges in the second were wasted when Dalton Reed struck out with the bases loaded.

After Tennant took little time in disposing of the Knights in the third, the Cougars broke the scoreless deadlock when Hayden Stang scored on a Coleson Titus single.

It was still a 1-0 game into the fifth when Jefferson scored another run when Tennant’s infield grounder plated Chase Anderson, who had drawn one of the six walks the Cougars received.

Leading 2-0, the Cougars saw Horowicz replace Rose and walk two of the first three men he saw. A two-out single loaded the bases, but Horowicz got Sanchez on strikes to keep the precarious lead in tact.

Scotland’s third pitcher actually carried the Knights out of the game. He yielded four hits, a walk, saw three bases stolen against him, lasted through a passed ball and three earned runs . . . and finally retired the side in the sixth and departed with a 5-0 deficit in his wake.

This week’s Sectional Tournament is a double elimination event that opened with Washington traveling to Hampshire on Tuesday. Weather permitting, Jefferson was to play the winner at Sager Field on Wednesday evening. The tournament will see Jefferson playing each and every game it has at home.

Rust from not playing often enough shouldn’t be any problem. The win over Scotland scrubbed that off the pitching arms and regular lineup’s bats.