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Mustangs slide by Spartans, 7-0

T-R PHOTO BY ROSS THEDE - East Marshall's Hannah Birks (14) is tagged out by Grundy Center third baseman Jessica Ayers during the fourth inning of Tuesday's Class 2A Region 7 quarterfinal softball game in Le Grand. The 13th-ranked Mustangs slid past the Spartans 7-0.

LE GRAND — Of all the things East Marshall head coach Jary Hoskey thought went wrong for his softball team, none of them were defense.

The Class 2A No. 13 Mustangs supported sophomore Kodie Hoskey by committing no errors and the East Marshall offense scratched out more than enough to get past Grundy Center 7-0 in Tuesday’s Region 7 quarterfinals.

Both teams finished their third head-to-head meeting this season with seven hits, but East Marshall (25-7) avoided all damage by making the plays it needed to defensively. Kodie, meanwhile, struck out 10 to lessen the pressure and help the Mustangs move into Friday’s regional semifinals against another NICL West Division foe.

East Marshall will host BCLUW (20-12) in another rubber match at 7 p.m. in Le Grand in hopes of advancing to Monday’s regional finals.

“That’ll be a big task for us,” said coach Hoskey. “It’s hard to beat a team three times, just like this one tonight, but we’ve got them at home and we’ll see what happens.”

T-R PHOTO BY ROSS THEDE - East Marshall catcher Madison Farrington, left, tags out Grundy Center's Allison Beenken (22) on a play at the plate in the fifth inning of Tuesday's Class 2A Region 7 quarterfinal softball game in Le Grand. It's as close as the Spartans got to scoring in their 7-0 loss.

Grundy Center (12-13) sophomore Megan Beck held off East Marshall’s bats as long as she could in her first appearance in the circle against the Mustangs in three meetings this summer. East Marshall didn’t get a hit until the third inning, when it came up with three of them. Coupled with a walk and a Grundy Center miscue, the Mustangs made their way to a 3-0 lead.

Kodie led off with a single, Madi Duncan walked and Melinda Puumala’s bunt single led to a throwing error that plated courtesy runner Zoeie Fontanini. One out later, Maria Rasmussen’s grounder found its way through the right side to drive in Duncan and Puumala for a 3-0 lead.

The Spartans, who had runners on base in each inning except for the first, left two runners in scoring position in the fourth and was again in striking distance in the top of the fifth. Eighth-grader Allison Beenken led off with a double off the fence in left-center field, and Landry Luhring’s grounder took a bad hop over Reagan McIlrath at short. With runners on the corners, two out and Beck — the cleaup hitter — at the plate, Luhring took off trying to steal second base. As catcher Madison Farrington’s throw crossed the infield, Beenken broke for home and was cut down at home by McIlrath’s return throw to end the threat.

“I probably should have told [Beenken] we’re not going, but yeah, I sure wanted Megan to be able to hit in that situation,” said Grundy Center head coach Jeff Mathews. “But you know what, she was almost safe, she was aggressive and I can’t take that away from her.

“If there’s not two outs, yes, she’s going. Down by three, it’s a little different situation but that’s definitely on me for not going over it with her.”

T-R PHOTO BY ROSS THEDE

Grundy Center didn’t get another runner to second base in the final two frames while East Marshall’s offense piled on, with some self-inflicted damage by the Spartan defense in the very next at-bat.

Puumala greeted eighth-grade pitcher Emma Beck by skipping a single through the left side, stole second, took third on a wild pitch and scored two outs later on a Farrington blooper to right. Juliana Arifi dropped a single into right field as well, Ellen Hungerford walked, and Hannah Birks hit a line drive to left field that bounced out of Sydney Mathews’ glove, allowing two more runs to score.

And while Grundy Center never advanced a runner as far as second base for the remainder of the game, the Mustangs made good on another scoring chance in the bottom of the sixth. After Kodie was hit by a pitch and Duncan reached safely on her sacrifice bunt, Puumala was plunked by an 0-2 offering to load the bases.

Emma Beck dodged a pair of bullets but walked Farrington to force in a run, though she escaped further damage.

Beenken’s third hit of the night — she was 3-for-3 at the plate — came with one out in the seventh, but Maddie McMartin’s line drive to left was snared by a leaping Quin Damman to prevent Grundy Center from gaining any late momentum.

T-R PHOTO BY ROSS THEDE

“We played good defense,” said coach Hoskey. “We tell the girls, ‘we don’t need everyone hitting at once, but we do need them playing defense all the time.’ We’ve got five kids that put the ball in play and that’s what we needed.

“We beat an awfully good Grundy Center team, they’re well coached, they’ve got some good young kids. Coming in we knew we had three games to play and this was one of them, we got by that hurdle and we’ll see what happens on Friday.”

The Mustangs, who closed the regular season with a 1-0 loss to 1A No. 4 AGWSR, snapped back by getting three runs against Grundy Center’s Megan Beck in their first faceoff with her. Beck was tagged for two earned runs on four hits and three walks while striking out two in two trips through East Marshall’s potent lineup.

“They hadn’t seen Megan (during the regular season), that was kind of our plan to keep her in our back pocket for this game,” coach Mathews said, “but we weren’t going to let them see her three times through. We thought since they had issues with Emma we’d go fast then slower, change speeds on them, but I’m sure they practiced for it. She pitched well, but they’re good hitters.

“We needed to get a run or two. We showed we could play with them if we played clean, but it happened here. You’re down three-to-nothing and you have a couple errors and all the sudden you’re down six-to-nothing.”

T-R PHOTO BY ROSS THEDE

Emma Beck tossed two innings of relief, allowing four runs — only one earned — on three hits, two walks and two hit batsman.

Beenken was the only Spartan with multiple hits, including a double, while Mathews, Luhring, Jenna Bonorden and Brooke Flater each had a single.

Hoskey hit two batters in her shutout performance, and also had one of East Marshall’s seven singles. Puumala was 2-for-2 with two runs scored.

“Kodie’s best, when she’s on, is making them put the ball in play and hitting her pitch,” said coach Hoskey. “We need that going into the tournament trail and we’ll see what happens on Friday. We’ll have our hands full.”

East Marshall topped the Comets twice during the regular season, winning 8-5 and 3-1 in respective meetings.

T-R PHOTO BY ROSS THEDE

East Marshall 7, Grundy Center 7

At Le Grand

GC 000 000 0 — 0 7 4

EM 003 031 X — 7 7 0

Megan Beck, Emma Beck and Jenna Bonorden; Kodie Hoskey and Madison Farrington. W–Hoskey (16-5). L–M.Beck (3-5). 2B–GC: Allison Beenken. LOB–GC 8, EM 7.

T-R PHOTO BY ROSS THEDE

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