Creston softball wins Hawkeye 10 title

COUNCIL BLUFFS — The title situation for Creston softball was simple, win one of the two games against Lewis Central and the Panthers will share the Hawkeye 10 Conference title. Win them both? Creston wins the conference outright.

The Panthers earned the latter and defeated Lewis Central 8-6 and 10-3 for their 21st and 22nd victories of the season.

In the first game of the doubleheader, the game saw two innings pass by before the Titans tallied three in the bottom of the third.

Creston got their first runs in the top of the fourth.

“We came right back,” coach Mike McCabe said. “We got base hits to start the inning from Morgan Driskell and a double from Ava Adamson. Halle Evans drove in a run on a sac fly and we scored another on an error and cut it to 3-2.”

The Panthers added five in the top of the fifth to cement their lead.

“Had a couple of huge, two-run hits in that inning,” McCabe said. “A sac fly from Adamson got us going and then a big two run, two out double from Evans and the very next batter was Daile Keeler. Keeler hit a two run, two out home run. It jumped up to 7-3. We felt at that point we dodged a bit of a bullet.”

Lewis Central added three in the bottom of the fifth.

Creston plated an insurance run in the top of the sixth inning.

“Got a sac fly from Driskell that drove in Sophie Hagle,” McCabe said.

Keely Coen was replaced by Taryn Fredrickson in the sixth inning. Coen struck out five Titan batters in 23 at bats.

Fredrickson started in the circle for the second game.

Creston’s bats were awake early in game two, with two runs scored in the top of the first.

“We got off to a good start,” McCabe said. “Gracie Hagle hit a sharp one hopper at the third baseman and reached on an error. Two batters later, Nevaeh Randall got us going with a big two run home run.”

Three runs were scored for the Panthers in the third inning.

“Jersey Foote led off the inning with a base hit followed by a run scoring double by Randall,” McCabe said. “Driskell followed that and drove in Randall and later Keeler had a base hit.”

The bats for both teams fell asleep in the fourth and fifth innings.

Creston outscored Lewis Central 2-1 in the sixth and 3-2 in the seventh to clinch both the title and a 10-3 victory.

The Panthers host Clarke (4-14) tonight for senior night at 7 p.m.

“They’re a very good program,” McCabe said. “Obviously, record wise, it’s not what they have been. A little bit is their conference, will be a good non-conference game for sure.”

The Panthers have won the Hawkeye 10 Conference title in 1975, 1984, 1992, 1993, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015 and 2022.