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Grand finale

West Marshall softball powers past Baxter, Greene County in own tourney

T-R PHOTO BY ROSS THEDE Ñ West Marshall senior Brooke Snider (42) is greeted at home by her teammates after hitting a grand slam against Baxter during the Rose Festival Softball Tournament on Saturday in State Center. Snider finished the day 5-for-6 at the plate with two runs scored and seven RBIs as the Trojans beat Baxter and Greene County.

STATE CENTER — Two days after knocking off the conference frontrunner, the West Marshall softball team posted a perfect record in its home tournament for the first time in eight years.

Everything’s coming up roses for the Trojans.

West Marshall went 2-0 on Saturday to go unbeaten in its own Rose Festival Softball Tournament for the first time since 2010, battering Baxter 15-5 in five innings and outlasting Greene County 4-3 in the day’s finale.

Brooke Snider blasted a grand slam to help the Trojans beat the Bolts in West Marshall’s first game, and Snider drove in Emma Meyer as the eventual game-winning run in the last contest of the day.

With only five teams committing to the Rose Festival Tournament, each squad played two games. West Marshall and Class 4A No. 13 Newton both went 2-0 after the Cardinals downed Greene County and Benton Community.

T-R PHOTO BY ROSS THEDE Ñ West Marshall pinch-runner Clara Dee (21) slides home safely in front of Baxter catcher Katilynn Kelly, right, to score one of the TrojansÕ five runs during the fifth inning of their game Saturday at the Rose Festival Softball Tournament in State Center.

The Trojans, still riding the high of Thursday’s 7-2 triumph over 1A No. 5 AGWSR, kept it going into their annual home tournament.

“Honestly beating Ackley (AGWSR) was the biggest win we could probably have,” said West Marshall senior shortstop Katie Price, who had four hits on the day. “We beat them once last year and that was the biggest win also. This year going into it we knew we would be competitive with them, and them already beating us really got our momentum going.”

Two nights after getting the NICL West Division split with AGWSR, West Marshall (10-6) turned it its highest-scoring game of the season. The Trojans tallied 19 hits against Baxter, sparked by Snider’s 4-for-4 performance at the plate. Singles by Loran Nicholson and Kayla Cripps and a walk to Meyer loaded the bases in the bottom of the second inning, and with nowhere to put her, Baxter had to pitch to Snider. The result was a no-doubter over the center-field fence, lifting West Marshall to a 4-2 lead.

The Bolts (9-8) battled back with two more runs of their own to tie it at 4-all, only to see the Trojans take the advantage back for good in the home half of the third.

Cecilia Christensen started with a swinging-bunt single, and Meyer walked two outs later. Cripps blooped a run-scoring single behind third base, and Baxter elected to pitch around Snider with a runner on second. Price picked up what would prove to be the game-winning RBI with her seeing-eye single through the left side, and West Marshall poured it on from there.

T-R PHOTO BY ROSS THEDE Ñ West Marshall junior center fielder Kayla Cripps attempts to make a diving catch during the second inning of the TrojansÕ 15-5, six-inning win over Baxter in SaturdayÕs Rose Festival Softball Tournament in State Center.

The Trojans’ 7-8-9 hitters — Karlyn Snider, Meyer and Cripps — accounted for a total of nine runs in the game, each of them scoring in both the fifth and sixth innings. Baxter’s defense succumbed to some baserunning pressure in the fifth, and consecutive run-scoring singles by Cripps, Brooke Snider, Price and Renae Schaper ended the game in the bottom of the sixth.

“Our pitching and defense was good,” said West Marshall head coach Kim Tarbell. “We let [Baxter] have a few early but they earned them with base hits.

“We needed wins here today. We have to keep pressing forward and playing like we did against AGWSR, making no mistakes on the field and getting the bats going or taking advantage of walks, whatever it may be.”

Brooke’s 4-for-4 day at the dish included a grand slam — her team-leading fourth home run of the summer — and six total RBIs. Cripps went 4-for-4 with three runs and three RBIs at the bottom of the order, while Price finished 3-for-5 with a double and two RBIs.

Karisa Blocker and Christensen had two hits apiece, and winning pitcher Nicholson added a single. Meyer walked all four plate appearances and scored each time.

T-R PHOTO BY ROSS THEDE

Nicholson improved to 7-5 with the win, allowing two earned runs on 12 hits and one walk while striking out three.

McKenzie Eslinger led Baxter at the plate, going 3-for-3 with two doubles and three RBIs, but the Bolts got beat on the bases. Blocker threw out two attempted base-stealers and the West Marshall defense gunned down another two runners.

Outgoing Rose Queen, Grace Porter, pitched an effective seven innings in the tournament finale to help West Marshall edge Greene County 4-3. Porter, who wasn’t available to play in Thursday’s momentous win over AGWSR because of Rose Festival events, returned to the dugout midway through the first game and got the nod to pitch in game two.

The Trojan defense helped Porter out of some jams, catching a pair of baserunners astray and coming up with the plays when they were needed. Each play proved pivotal when West Marshall’s bats racked up just five hits.

“I was hoping we would hit the ball a little better in the second game … but I know they’re hot and tired,” Tarbell said. “I think mental focus was the biggest thing today because of the heat.

T-R PHOTO BY ROSS THEDE

“I thought we would be hitting better against those two [Greene County] pitchers, but I don’t know if it’s going from a slower pitcher to a faster pitcher and just not adjusting quick enough. I think that’s kind of been our issue all year is just not being able to make those adjustments quick enough.”

Greene County (4-13) jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first, taking advantage of a Trojan error, but the defense bailed itself out with a heads-up play. Danielle Hoyle’s bases-loaded grounder gave the Rams a two-run lead, but Price flipped to Brooke at third for the force-out before she twirled and fired to her sister Karlyn at second base, where the runner had strayed too far off.

Price cut the deficit in half for the Trojans in the bottom half. She singled, stole second and third and scored when the third baseman couldn’t come up with the throw trying to intercept her.

West Marshall went in front for good in the bottom of the second, starting with Christensen’s single to right. Karlyn plated her with a double to left, and the second of five Greene County errors allowed her to score to go-ahead run.

The Rams tried retaliating in their next at-bat, but a baserunning blunder did them in. Meyer reeled in Hoyle’s flyball to left for the first out of the inning, but Greene County’s runner at second had already taken off for third and the Trojans turned it into a double play.

West Marshall picked up what would prove to be a much-needed insurance run in the fourth. Meyer started with a bunt single and advanced to second on the errant throw, and Brooke’s single up the middle drove in Meyer to make it 4-2.

The Trojans didn’t get another hit the rest of the game, but Porter and her defense made the lead stick. Greene County pieced together three singles to score a run in the fifth, but West Marshall wriggled out of a bases-loaded jam in the top of the sixth.

After a walk, a misplayed bunt and a bunt single loaded the bases for the Rams, Porter fielded a grounder back to the circle and threw home for the force-out. Blocker caught a pop-up for the second out, and sophomore right fielder Morgan Cripps made an all-out diving catch on a ball destined for extra bases to help the Trojans escape the sixth inning unscathed.

Greene County went down in order in the seventh and West Marshall closed out their week of six home games in a row with a 4-2 record.

“We knew coming in it was going to be hot … but being on the high from the Ackley game really helped us,” said Price, “and being undefeated in the first time in forever for Rose Fest is the best feeling for us as a team.

“We understand we’re not 17-0 like the beginning of last season, we’re losing some but we’re winning more than we’re losing so we’re fighting and we’re getting the job done.”

Porter (3-1) picked up the win, allowing eight singles and one earned run over seven innings, walking four and striking out two. Price, Christensen, Meyer and the Sniders each accounted for one hit, but it all proved to be enough for the Trojans on this day.

“Grace was effectively wild and we hoped we could get away with that in this game and give Loran a break,” said Tarbell. “I hope we got a little momentum going into our game Monday at Grundy Center. I’m hoping this will keep us going forward, staying positive and keeping the girls up and not having so many mistakes. We’ve had some games with quite a few errors and we’re just trying to avoid that.”

West Marshall follows up its six-game homestand with a nine-game road trip, including eight games this coming week. The Trojans go in successive days to Grundy Center, Nevada, Gladbrook-Reinbeck, PCM and South Hardin, playing a make-up doubleheader on Friday in Eldora. Two games in Marshalltown’s Bobcat Classic await West Marshall next Saturday.

Rose Festival Tournament

At State Center

Saturday’s Games

Newton 10, Greene County 2

Benton 15, Baxter 0, 3 innings

West Marshall 15, Baxter 5, 6 innings

Newton 6, Benton 4

West Marshall 4, Greene County 3

——

West Marshall 15, Baxter 5, 6 innings

BAXTER 202 010 — 5 12 4

WM 042 054 — 15 19 3

Sydney Schmidt and Kaitlynn Kelly; Loran Nicholson and Karisa Blocker. W–Nicholson (7-5). L–Schmidt (9-6). 2B–BAX: McKenzie Eslinger 2; WM: Katie Price, Karlyn Snider. HR–WM: Brooke Snider (4). LOB–BAX 5, WM 9.

West Marshall 4,

Greene County 3

GREENE 200 010 0 — 3 8 5

WM 120 100 X — 4 5 2

Samantha Hardaway, Jenna Beyers and Kyla Beyers, Hardaway (4); Grace Porter and Blocker. W–Porter (3-1). L–Hardaway (3-10). 3B–WM: K. Snider. LOB–GC 2, WM 5.

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