The Greene County softball team repeats as the Class 3A third place team with a 7-6 win against Center Point-Urbana in the runner-up game at the Iowa High School Girls Athletic Union state tournament Friday in Fort Dodge.
Head coach Tom Kennedy, with assistants Greg Ruth and Tiffany Hupp, had an experienced team, with seven of the nine starters seniors who returned from last year’s third place team. The Rams finish the season at 32-7.
The game wasn’t the tidiest the Rams have played this season. CP-U batted first and combined three hits with two Ram errors and a pair of wild pitches to take a 3-0 lead. The Stormin’ Pointers added another run in the second inning on two hits – a double and a single.
After going down in order in the first inning, the Rams batted through their batting order in the second inning. They tallied six hits for four runs. Hannah Onken started the inning with a single. Tressa Rasmussen struck out. Emma Saddoris hit a single down the left field line, and Megan Carey, running for Onken, advanced to second. Marissa Promes hit a rolling single to the shortstop. Carey collided with the shortstop as she ran to third, but the umpire ruled the shortstop had bobbled the ball and did not call Carey out; the bases were loaded. Sydney Koch also hit a grounder to second base for a single that scored Carey. Bailey Godwin hit a ball to the centerfield fence. Saddoris and Promes both scored, but Godwin was not credited with a hit by the official scorer because there was an error on the play. Carleigh Paup hit an RBI single off the shortstop’s glove that brought in Koch. Kayla Mobley hit to first base but CP-U made the play at home to prevent Godwin from scoring. Emily Christensen was the last Ram to bat and hit to the shortstop and was out at first base. The score after two full innings was 4-4.
CP-U’s Claire Holtz hit a homerun on the second pitch in the third to reclaim the lead. Taylor Henderson followed with a single. Claire Chandlier reached first on a Ram error. Megan Croghan hit a sacrifice bunt that advanced the runners to second and third. Alyssa Wade hit the ball and was safe at first, but Henderson was tagged out. The next batter hit the ball to second base and was out at first.
The Rams went ahead in the third inning as Onken started that inning the same way she started the second – with a single. Carey went in to run and advanced to second when Rasmussen hit the ball and the play went to first base. Saddoris hit a single but Carey stayed at second. She came in on a Promes single, with Promes then advancing to second while the unsuccessful play was being made on Carey at home. With Promes on second and Saddoris on third Koch hit a sacrifice fly that scored Saddoris. Godwin hit into the third out, but the inning ended with the Rams up 6-5.
CP-U got a runner on first with an error with two outs but there were no hits and the runner was stranded. The Rams went down one-two-three in the bottom of the fourth inning.
CP-U tied the score in the top of the fifth inning. They started the inning with a Henderson single. Jessica Grundmeyer went in as runner. Chaldlier bunted to third base and was out at first, but Grundmeyer was safe at second. Megan Croghan hit a double the Grundmeyer was called out at home. With two outs and a runner on second, pitcher Promes threw a wild pitch that let Croghan advance to third, and then, after batter Wade hit four foul balls, Promes threw another wild pitch and Croghan scored. Wade ultimately hit to third baseman Paup and the out was made at first base. The score was 6-6.
Onken for the third time started an inning with a single for the Rams. Rasmussen bunted and was out at first but Emily Heupel, running for Onken, was safe at second. Saddoris hit a single that she stretched to second base as CP-U made an unsuccessful play on Heupel at third base. Promes hit a rolling ball to third base and was safe at first, although Heupel was out at home. With two outs, Koch hit to the shortstop and Saddoris scored. The official scorer called an error on the play rather than a hit for Koch, but the Rams were up 7-6. Godwin hit to the pitcher for the last out.
CP-U got two hits in the sixth inning, a single and a double, but they weren’t able to score. CP-U got some help in the bottom of the sixth inning as Mobley, standing in the on deck circle while Paup batted, was hit by the ball and called out. With two outs, Christensen hit a double. Onken was walked intentionally and Rasmussen hit into the third out. The inning ended with the Rams still up 7-6.
The game was called on a time limit after six innings and the Rams claimed the third place trophy.
For the game, the Rams had 11 hits, with Onken and Saddoris each getting three singles, Promes getting two singles, and Paup getting one single. Christensen had the only extra base hit, a double. Promes, Koch and Godwin had two RBIs each and Paup had one.
Promes struck out three batters and walked none. The Rams made four errors.
Center Point-Urbana pitcher Samantha Croghan pitched the first three innings. She struck out two batters and was tagged with the loss. Baily Smith pitched the last three innings and struck out one batter and walked one. CP-U made one error.
