Clarinda wins H10 softball title

CLARINDA — The Clarinda softball team won its first conference championship since 1973 in dramatic fashion Monday night.

Janessa Woosley’s walk-off single drove in Brynn Isaacson in the bottom of the seventh inning for an 8-7 victory over Creston, ending a wild night of momentum swings on the Cardinals’ field.

Both teams came in with two conference losses at the top of the Hawkeye Ten, with Monday’s makeup game from a June 4 rainout concluding Clarinda’s league schedule. The win leaves Clarinda with a final 18-2 Hawkeye Ten record and 30-6 overall, while Creston falls to second place at 13-3 with four league games remaining.

Creston, the two-time defending Hawkeye Ten Conference softball champion, fell to 14-15 overall. (Tuesday’s game at St. Albert Catholic in Council Bluffs was postponed due to weather.)

The Clarinda baseball team also clinched the Hawkeye Ten title last week, marking a combined 82 years since both summer sports teams in Clarinda had won conference crowns.

Creston took a 1-0 lead in the second inning as one of three hits in the game by right fielder Sasha Wurster drove in Sophie Hagle. The Cardinals got out of the inning on a double play as the Panthers had a late tag-up on a deep fly ball hit by Kennedy Strider with one out, resutling in a double play.

Creston pitcher Taryn Fredrickson then worked out of a big jam in the bottom of the second as the Cardinals had runners in scoring position with no outs. Fredrickson retired two straight on strikeouts, and Jersey Foote flagged down a fly ball in center for the third out.

The defense helped Fredrickson maintain the 1-0 lead in the third as Strider scooped a one-hop throw for the third out with a runner on second.

Sidney Staver doubled in the Creston fourth, but was left on base when Isaacson snared Wurster’s line drive. Staver had two doubles in the game.

Then the Panther defense unraveled in Clarinda’s seven-run outburst in the bottom of the fourth. Four errors combined with six Cardinal hits left Creston in a 7-1 deficit heading into the fifth inning. (The pitchers on both teams allowed only three earned runs in the game.)

Panthers fight back

Creston hitters, shut out twice over the weekend at Carlisle, came to life in the fifth with four runs cutting the margin to 7-5. Evy Marlin and Hagle had key two-out hits to keep the rally going, and Clarinda starting pitcher Addy Wagoner was relieved by Mallory Woods.

The Panthers tied it at 7-7 in the sixth inning. Wurster and Ava Adamson got on base with an infield hit and fielder’s choice, setting up Avery Staver for a run-scoring double. With Adamson on third, Jersey Foote smashed a deep fly ball to center that scored the tying run on a sacrifice fly.

With Mila Kuhns sidelined by a hip injury, coach Dave Hartman had shuffled the lineup a bit and late in the game moved Adamson from catcher to shortstop, and Marlin from shortstop to third base. Marlin’s quick reaction snared a sharp line drive to end Clarinda’s sixth inning with the lead run on base. Sydney Staver had replaced Adamson behind the plate.

In Creston’s seventh inning, Fredrickson’s hard-hit liner was caught in center by Cardinal standout Jerzee Knight. Hagle was hit by a pitch and Wurster added her third hit of the game to put a second runner on base. Woods got out of the predicament with a strikeout, setting up Woosley’s walk-off single in the bottom of the inning. Isaacson started the inning with her third hit of the game.

“I was proud of our fight,” Hartman said. “Avery had a huge hit, Jersey hit a big sacrifice fly when we needed it. Sophie got hit by a pitch on two strikes in a great at-bat. We did so many things we needed to do to win it, we just didn’t quite do it.”

The Panther coach said the team learned some lessons for the tournament stretch ahead, when playing another top-caliber team. He said knowing the situation and number of outs as a baserunner, being aware in the field where the runners are, and not being tentative in making throws were all “little things” that could lift the team in a close game, where every play counts.

“We have to be more engaged mentally in the game, and that’s everybody including the ones not playing,” Hartman said. “We need to talk more. That’s how you win those games. I thought Taryn pitched pretty well. They have good hitters. I did like our fight tonight.”

The Panthers conclude a busy conference week with a game at Shenandoah Wednesday and the makeup doubleheader against Denison-Schleswig at home Friday beginning at 4 p.m. A makeup date for Tuesday’s rained out St. Albert game had not been set at press time.