Power display

Having watched Glenwood one night earlier in a 4-3 loss at Shenandoah, Creston softball coach Dave Hartman was confident that he had the better hitting team going into Thursday’s matchup at home.

“We came in early today and worked on fielding bunts,” Hartman said after his team’s 11-1 victory in six innings. “I told the girls, if we handle the bunt game we’ll win, because they don’t have enough hitting to beat us.”

Hartman’s premonition turned out to be correct, even if it did cost him his car. Hartman slammed into a deer on Highway 71 after scouting the Rams Wednesday, and got home in Urbandale at 3:30 a.m. Thursday.

The Panthers pounded 13 hits, including home runs by Ava Adamson, Avery Staver and winning pitcher Taryn Fredrickson. Adamson and Staver each had three hits. Jersey Foote rapped two doubles and Zoey Vandevender had a two-base hit. Sasha Wurster was productive in the No. 9 spot with a two-run single and two long flyball outs to the warning track.

“It was a good win for us,” Hartman said. “They’re a quality team with a quality pitcher. I know she had a blister tonight and had some struggles, but I thought we did a really good job against her of being disciplined and getting pitches that we wanted to hit. We ran deep counts against her even when we made outs.”

Fredrickson struck out 10, walked one and allowed five hits while allowing no earned runs.

“Taryn plays a lot of softball and has worked hard on her game,” Hartman said. “We counted on her to pitch from the start, but she’s also really started to swing it for us. Tonight she was hitting the corners when she needed to and she fielded her position well.”

Creston took control of the game with a six-run third inning after the Rams had tied it 1-1 in the top of the third.

“They had a missed throw at third on a steal and that kind of opened it up for us,” Hartman said. “We had been hitting the ball really hard early so they started playing us deep by the warning track. Then we actually broke the game open on balls that fell in front of their outfielders that might have been flyouts, but they had to back up because we were pounding it so much. So, it all kind of worked out in the end. Our girls got good swings.”

Several non-starters made appearances late in the game for Creston, including the clinching hit by Sidney McDonald that drove in Sidney Staver with the 11th run to end the game on the 10-run mercy rule in the sixth.

The competition level remained high for the Panthers in two games Friday against Class 5A No. 6-ranked Ankeny Centennial in the Centennial Classic. Centennial (5-3) swept Creston, 11-1 and 10-0. Adamson homered in the opener and Foote rapped two hits. Fredrickson pitched four innings and Kennedy Strider pitched 1 2/3 innings. Centennial’s Cora Boyle pitched a no-hitter in the nightcap. Avery Staver, Strider and Braylee Pokorny shared pitching duties for Creston.

The Panthers host top Hawkeye Ten contender Atlantic tonight (Monday) in a varsity doubleheader. Last year Creston topped Atlantic for the Hawkeye Ten championship despite losing twice to the Trojans (7-3), who are ranked No. 10 in Class 3A early this season. Creston (4-3) is unranked.