Juliana Arifi

ACKLEY — One hit was all it took.

East Marshall senior Juliana Arifi led off the top of the second inning with a solo home run, and that proved to be all the Class 2A No. 12 Mustangs needed to knock off 1A No. 7 AGWSR 1-0 in Thursday’s NICL West Division showdown.

East Marshall junior pitcher Kodie Hoskey spun a three-hit shutout, striking out the final two batters with the potential tying run standing 60 feet away at third base, and the Mustangs (19-4, 8-2) maintained their grasp on second place in the conference standings by completing the season sweep of AGWSR (13-5, 6-4).

The Cougars lost on consecutive nights despite one-hitters from senior pitcher Taryan Barrick, who struck out seven and walked only one. The only hit she surrendered was Arifi’s solo shot, and that was more than AGWSR could atone for.

Hoskey held the Cougars to three singles, including Taylor Sperfslage’s hit to start the bottom of the seventh. Sperfslage advanced on Carrinton Hunt’s sacrifice bunt and moved up to third after a wild pitch, but Hoskey retired Alyssa Hames and pinch-hitter Hannah Homeyer with strikeouts to end the threat and the game.

AGWSR stranded six runners on base in all — five of them in scoring position — and suffered back-to-back conference losses for the first time since the same sequence of games June 21-22, 2017. Those Cougars lost at BCLUW and at home against East Marshall, too.

Beyond Arifi’s round-tripper, the only other Mustangs to reach base were Maria Rasmusson who got on with a two-out walk in the sixth and Hannah Birks, who reached on an error with two outs in the seventh. Sperfslage had two singles and Ali Gerbracht had a hit for AGWSR.

Hoskey finished with 10 strikeouts and one walk.

Trojans rally past PCM at home, 4-1

STATE CENTER — The West Marshall softball team had to rally from behind at home but did it, beating PCM 4-1 in Thursday’s non-conference contest.

PCM took a 1-0 lead on Sidney Shaver’s first-inning home run and held the advantage until the bottom of the fourth, when the Trojans pieced together three hits and a walk for a pair of runs that gave them the lead for good.

Loran Nicholson started with a double, Karisa Blocker walked and Payton Halverson loaded the bases with a single, but Nicholson was thrown out trying to score before a passed ball plated Blocker’s courtesy runner Kalyn Polley. Morgan Cripps followed with an RBI single and the Trojans led 2-1.

West Marshall tacked on two more tallies in the fifth thanks to five-straight singles from Kayla Cripps, Grace duNeui, Renae Schaper, Nicholson and Blocker — the last two driving in runs.

Nicholson and the defense made the lead stick, getting out of a bases-loaded jam in the sixth. Nicholson finished with two strikeouts and three walks, allowing just four hits for the win. Kayla Cripps, Nicholson and Blocker each had two of the Trojans’ 10 hits.

Norse hold off Mustang baseball

STORY CITY — The East Marshall baseball team broke a 4-all tie with four runs in the top of the seventh inning only to see host Roland-Story score five times for a 9-8, walk-off win over the Mustangs in Thursday’s non-conference contest.

East Marshall (7-11) was unable to seal a four-run lead and suffered its fourth loss in its last five games. Roland-Story (11-9) snapped its five-game skid by overtaking the Mustangs in its last at-bat, finishing with a two-run, two-out single.

Wesley Hamor took the loss for the East Marshall hurlers, allowing two runs on two hits after taking over for Carter Anderson with one out in the seventh. Kam Monk went 4 1/3 innings as the starter, allowing four runs — three earned — on four hits and three walks while striking out one.

Zach Jocobson led the Mustangs offensively, going 2-for-3 with an RBI triple and a two-run homer. Austin Elliott went 3-for-4 at the plate with a double and an RBI, while Dane Thompson was 2-for-4 with two RBI. Garrett Kerber tripled and scored.

West Marshall’s win streak stops at 6

DES MOINES — Costly errors prevented the West Marshall baseball team from extending its win streak to seven games as Saydel took down the Trojans 9-2 in Thursday’s non-conference tilt.

Four of Saydel’s first five runs came unearned to West Marshall hurler Kinnick Christensen, who lasted five innings in the loss. He allowed one earned run on seven hits and two walks while striking out three.

Saydel (6-9) went up 5-2 before tacking on four more runs in the home half of the sixth to push the score to its final.

Josh Larsen led West Marshall (15-4) offensively with two hits, including a triple, and an RBI, while Christensen had an RBI single. Cameron Bannister singled and scored, and Ryan Reyerson had a double in the defeat.

BCLUW can’t complete comeback

BEAMAN — A half-hour lighting delay interrupted the BCLUW baseball team’s comeback and the Comets fell 9-7 to Lynnville-Sully in Thursday’s non-conference thriller.

The visiting Hawks (8-11) got out to a 7-3 lead through five innings in spite of not yet having the benefit of a hit, but a leadoff single helped set up another two runs for Lynnville-Sully.

BCLUW (1-12) battled back to within 9-5 before the power went out in Beaman. After a 30-minute delay for the lights to come back on, the Comets pushed across two more runs before running out of gas.

Koty Kruse went three innings on the mound for BCLUW without allowing a hit but exited with his team trailing 5-3. Angus Callaway surrendered two more runs before Lynnville-Sully finally got its first hit with a leadoff single in the sixth. Colton Keller pitched the final 1 1/3 frames. The trio combined to strike out seven but walked nine and hit three batters.

Jack Garber finished with three hits, including a triple, and Kruse had an RBI double that drove in Garber in the first inning. Noah Gallentine, Ray Callaway and Dalton Critchfield each had a single for the Comets, who are off until Monday’s game at Gladbrook-Reinbeck.