But both East Marshall seniors were certain of one thing — hitting your first-career grand slam or making the catch of a lifetime feels so much better when it’s done against West Marshall.

The Class 2A No. 15 Mustang softball team made quick work of its cross-county and NICL West Division rival, beating the visiting Trojans 12-2 in five innings here Thursday night behind Arifi’s first-inning slam and Puumala’s diving grab in the fifth and final frame.

Arifi followed a one-out single by Maria Rasmusson and back-to-back walks to Reagan McIlrath and Madison Farrington with her 15th-career round-tripper, giving East Marshall (10-3, 3-1) the shot of emotion it needed to keep going strong a night after 10-running 1A No. 5 AGWSR on the same diamond.

Arifi, who went 0-for-3 against AGWSR and made the third out every time, needed to see the ball leave the yard.

T-R PHOTO BY ROSS THEDE - West Marshall shortstop Lilly Buck, right, bobbles the ground ball as East Marshall’s Hannah Birks runs around her during the third inning of Thursday’s NICL West Division softball game in Le Grand.

“I hit it and I thought it felt good, but I wasn’t sure that it went over the fence,” said Arifi. “Any home run feels good, but that was my first grand slam and getting it against West Marshall makes that even better.”

East Marshall sent 11 batters to the plate in the bottom of the first, getting five across before leaving the bases loaded against West Marshall sophomore hurler Loran Nicholson (4-4). Nicholson retired the heart of the Mustangs’ lineup in order in the second, but East Marshall got two more runs in the third before breaking free for another five runs in the fourth.

West Marshall didn’t help its own cause, either, committing five errors and making a couple baserunning mistakes that head coach Kim Tarbell said need to get corrected.

“We just wanted to play a good ballgame, and I think the girls will agree that we could have played a lot better,” said Tarbell. “Baserunning is our nemesis and we need to work on that, but we’re young. We’ve got six girls in the lineup playing varsity for the first time.

“Hopefully they realize we made a few mistakes and hopefully we can learn from them.”

T-R PHOTO BY ROSS THEDE - East Marshall center fielder Melinda Puumala (11) is congratulated by teammates Madison Farrington, center, and Kodie Hoskey after making a diving catch in the top of the fifth inning to help the Mustangs close out West Marshall 12-2 on Thursday night.

Tarbell was most encouraged by the way her Trojans (4-4, 1-3) put the bat on the ball against East Marshall junior right-hander Kodie Hoskey (6-3), striking out just four times in five innings, but the Mustangs’ offense has been on a roll lately.

East Marshall has now scored 69 runs in its last seven games and 106 runs in its nine wins, an average of 11.8 runs per victory.

“Like I always tell the girls, we’ve got to have five girls moving the ball and they all have to play defense,” said Mustang head coach Jary Hoskey.

East Marshall’s bats complied to the tune of 12 hits in just four at-bats, and the defense made only one error in support of Kodie Hoskey. Kodie surrendered just four hits, one walk, one hit batter and one earned run. West Marshall’s No. 9 hitter Lilly Buck blasted a double to lead off the top of the third and eventually scored on a wild pitch. A ball off the bat of Buck was misplayed on the East Marshall infield in the fourth, allowing Clara Dee to score the Trojans’ final run.

West Marshall tried to strike up a rally in the top of the fifth, but Puumala put an end to that with her glove. After ranging to her right to catch Nicholson’s fly ball, Puumala got parallel to the ground while made a diving grab to her left on Renae Schaper’s shot to the gap in right-center field. Hoskey then retired Payton Halverson on strikes to end the game.

T-R PHOTO BY ROSS THEDE

“Honestly I had no clue (if I could catch it),” Puumala said. “It’s not a set thing — I just run as fast as I can and when I left my feet, I knew I was going to catch it.

“Doing that against West Marshall, that’s the best. It’s a friendly rivalry, maybe less friendly than other teams, but you always want to beat West Marshall.”

Schaper, Karisa Blocker, Avery Randall and Buck accounted for the Trojans’ four hits off Hoskey, but three first-inning walks by Nicholson may have been too much leeway to grant hard-hitting East Marshall.

“I think she did get a little frustrated by the zone, but that’s something you’ve got to be able to deal with,” Tarbell said of Nicholson.

In the end, only five of East Marshall’s runs came earned to Nicholson because of the Trojans’ five errors, including four of the Mustangs’ five in the bottom of the fourth. Farrington blooped a double just inside the first-base line and scored two outs later on Hoskey’s double that landed just in front of Randall’s diving attempt in left.

T-R PHOTO BY ROSS THEDE

Back-to-back errors on the Trojan infield plated Hoskey’s courtesy runner Emma Pfantz before Puumala flared a run-scoring single to right and Rasmusson landed a two-run bloop just beyond second baseman Clara Dee’s reach in shallow center.

“In the middle innings there I didn’t think we were as sharp as we had been, but when we got that grand slam I think that set everyone back on their heels,” coach Hoskey said. “I didn’t think Kodie was sharp but she pitched a big game last night and now she gets three days to rest.”

Puumala and Rasmusson finished with two hits apiece, with Rasmusson driving in three runs and Puumala plating two more to lead the East Marshall attack. Arifi’s lone hit was the biggest hit of the game.

“I’ve been put in that situation before and I don’t really mind it,” Arifi said of batting with the bases loaded. “Every day is a new day and every pitch is a new pitch. I was just trying to move the ball.”

West Marshall heads to the Webster City Tournament on Saturday, meeting the host Lynx as well as Iowa Falls-Alden, while East Marshall is off until Monday’s NICL West game at Gladbrook-Reinbeck.

East Marshall 12, West Marshall 2, 5 innings

At Le Grand

WM 001 10 — 2 4 5

EM 502 5X — 12 9 1

Loran Nicholson and Karisa Blocker; Kodie Hoskey and Madison Farrington. W–Hoskey (6-3). L–Nicholson (4-4). 2B–WM: Lilly Buck; EM: Farrington, Hannah Birks, Hoskey. HR–EM: Juliana Arifi (2). LOB–WM 5, EM 6.