Panthers sweep in regional preview

Coming from behind in both games, the Creston softball game swept Lewis Central at home Monday night to move closer to earning its second straight Hawkeye Ten championship.

In a game that Lewis Central led 2-1 early with a 4-4 tie as late as the fifth inning, Creston’s offense got untracked late in a 13-4 victory to open the night. Taryn Fredrickson pitched the victory and hit a solo home run.

The second game was deadlocked 0-0 through two innings with senior Keely Coen in the pitcher’s circle for the Panthers. Lewis Central took the first lead at 2-0 in the third, but the Panthers answered in the bottom of the inning on Nevaeh Randall’s two-run homer, her second of the night.

Randall now has 18 home runs and 40 RBIs this season, and boosted her school career home run record to 44. She came into the game batting .448.

Despite her power-hitting prowess, Randall was involved in Creston scoring the tying and go-ahead runs late in a 5-4 victory in game two. With Lewis Central’s Cami Damgaard pitching Randall carefully after serving up two homers earlier, a pitch sailed high over the catcher’s head in the fifth inning and Zoey Vandevender raced from third and dove across the plate to cut LC’s lead to 4-3.

Meanwhile, Randall was walked and Daile Keeler tied the game at 4-4 with a sacrifice fly. When the Titans misplayed Ava Adamson’s grounder, Randall hustled from second to score on the play for the final run in the 5-4 win.

Lewis Central got two runners on base in the seventh inning, but Coen worked out of the jam with a grounder to Vandevender at third for the final forceout.

“Nevaeh is getting really good defensively at shortstop and we won the game on a hustle play by Nevaeh on two-out, no-stop baserunning,” Creston coach Dave Hartman said. “They threw it to first and it bounced, and they dropped it for just a second and we scored. We did some good things on the bases tonight and I thought our defense was pretty good, especially in the second game. Jersey Foote was all over the place getting balls in the outfield in game two.”

Randall scored three runs on a single, double and home run in game one. Mila Kuhns also had three hits with three RBIs in that game. Fredrickson had a single and the home run. Foote and Keeler each had two hits. Fredrickson allowed seven hits in seven innings with seven strikeouts and four walks.

Creston made the most of its five hits in game two, with Randall’s homer the only extra-base hit. Finishing with one single each were Keeler, Kuhns, Sophie Hagle and Coen. In the circle, Coen yielded eight hits while compiling five strikeouts, two walks and two hit by pitches.

Damgaard pitched both games for Lewis Central, now 9-9 in the Hawkeye Ten and 13-16 overall. Emerson Coziahr, who leads the pitching staff with seven wins and 108 strikeouts, did not appear against the Titans, who return to Creston to open regional play on July 6. (Winterset hosts the semifinal round, and Indianola is the favorite to be in the regional championship game from the other side of the Class 4A, Region 3 bracket.)

“There was some gamesmanship there with them throwing the same girl in both games and hiding a pitcher tonight,” Hartman said. “We talked about it and we just decided to play. We threw both of our best pitchers and we played all of our starters. If we’re better we’ll win (the regional game), and if we’re not better we won’t. I thought our girls had fun tonight and didn’t panic. They stayed in the game. You give us enough at-bats and we’re going to score some runs eventually.”

Creston youth players were honored Monday by joining varsity starters during pregame introductions of game two, and a ceremony was held to honor the history of the program. The current field was under construction 50 years ago and opened in 1975.

The Panthers play at Osceola Clarke tonight (Tuesday) before finishing league play in a doubleheader at Denison-Schleswig on Thursday. The first-place Panthers improved to 15-3 in the Hawkeye Ten, trailed by Atlantic with four league losses and Glenwood with five. Overall, the Panthers are 19-10.