The Greene County Rams and Saydel Eagles will face each other for the third time this summer, this time for the Class 3A Region 3 championship July 11 in Saydel.
The Heart of Iowa Activities Conference foes take identical 22-6 records into the game. In the conference, Saydel finished in first place (13-1) with the Rams in second place (12-2). The Rams won 5-1 when they played in Saydel, and the Eagles won 3-0 when they played in Jefferson just two weeks ago.
The Eagles topped Humboldt 2-1 Saturday to move to the Region 3 championship, while the Rams topped the Southeast Valley Cougars 4-0 in Jefferson.
The Rams scored three runs in the first inning against SEV. Lead off batter Olivia Shannon bunted to get on first base and got to second base and then third base on steals. She got home on a passed ball. Alexa Peters walked. Pitcher Emma Hoyle, who bats third and is 14th in Class 3A and first in the HOIAC for home runs, drew an intentional walk. Emma Stream hit a sacrifice bunt to score Peters, putting the Rams up 2-0. Becca Anderson’s bunt was caught for the second out. Payton Kokenge hit a line drive double up the first base line. That scored Addison Gannon, who was Hoyle’s courtesy runner. Paige Teeples popped up to left field for the third out. The Rams were up 3-0 after one inning.
The Rams scored again in the third inning. Peters batted first and was walked. The Cougars again gave Hoyle an intentional walk, with Gannon as runner, moving Peters to second. Peters and Gannon advanced a base on a passed ball to Stream. Stream hit a sac bunt that brought Peters home for a 4-0 score. Anderson popped up to right field. Gannon tried for home but returned to third safely. Kokenge struck out for the third out of the inning.
The Cougars had no base runners until the seventh inning, when Ellie Nolte went to first on a dropped third pitch. The next batter bunted but was thrown out at first by Hoyle, advancing the runner to third base. Senior pitcher Maddie VanSickle was the next Cougar to bat. On a full count Hoyle struck her out with a change up to end the game at 4-0.
As of July 9, Hoyle leads Class 3A in WHIP at .58. Her ERA is third at .87. She’s second in strike outs at 257, behind Saydel’s Dokata Lake at 326.
Game time in Saydel is 7 pm. Tickets must be purchased ahead via the Bound app: https://tickets.gobound.com/
