The Fort Dodge softball team is good enough to take your lunch money from you even if you resist. The Dodgers certainly don’t need the kind of help the Bobcats gave them on Thursday night.

Fort Dodge, ranked fourth in Class 4A, scored 29 runs on just 15 hits in Thursday’s Iowa Alliance Conference North Division doubleheader, cashing in on every opportunity they could for wins of 13-0 in four innings and 16-0 in three innings.

The Bobcats (3-9, 2-4) haven’t beaten the Dodgers since 2012, and they haven’t even scored upon them since 2018. When you offer up 21 free passes on walks and hit batters and a total of 10 errors while getting just two hits yourself, it makes it nearly impossible to end either of those lengthy streaks.

“I think that’s why we were the way we were in the second game,” said MHS first-year head coach Jason Bowers. “The kids have been here, they’ve taken that pounding from a program like that the last few years over and over again. They know what they’re up against.”

Fort Dodge (11-3, 6-0) didn’t need to beat the ball around the park to put runs on the board. The Dodgers took advantage of 15 walks and six hit batsmen while swiping base after base to put pressure on Marshalltown’s defense without the ball even being in play.

Once the Dodgers did start to hit, the Bobcats were doomed.

“I think the first game really got to us, up in our heads for sure,” Bowers said. “Pitching for us has kind of been our crutch all year. Nothing against our kids who threw tonight, but we’re a little short-staffed and these girls are pitching a lot because our eighth-graders are on a (Washington) D.C. trip.

“But again, I’d say it’s the attitude. I even heard from Fort Dodge’s coach and they’ve got a good program over there. One thing coach (Andi) Adams said to me as she shook my hand is ‘tell the kids to keep their heads up.’ So somebody else besides my eyes notice that when we hang our heads, we’re not the same team, so I hope that does resonate that it’s not just me being a coach. It’s one of the best coaches in the state that has a good program year after year that notices it, so it’s something we’ve got to work on for sure.”

The Bobcats were no-hit in the opener as Lucy Porter faced only one more batter than the minimum. She struck out seven and walked one, as Kinsley Bowie led off the bottom of the third with a base on balls.

Fort Dodge piled up 10 hits in the game, scoring six unearned runs of their 13 against MHS sophomore lefthander Karsyn Price. Price walked six and hit three batters, but made leaps and bounds according to Bowers when it comes to consistency around the strike zone.

“Karsyn pitched one of her best games of the year statistically,” he said. “She had the first-pitch strikes, yeah she had some walks, but it was consistently there. The umpire even said after the game to tell No. 20 she pitched a good game. We just didn’t follow that with good defense behind her, which is probably more upsetting to me than anything because I feel like I field a pretty good defense.”

The Bobcats committed five errors in the opener and couldn’t recover well enough to pose a challenge in game two. Fort Dodge scratched out two runs without the benefit of a hit in the top of the first inning, and then the Dodgers piled up seven runs in both the second and third frames.

Fort Dodge tallied 16 runs on just five hits in the nightcap.

“You’ve got to have strikes, and if we can shore that up we’ll be better in the long run,” Bowers said. “Fort Dodge is stealing every base all the way around, they’ve got speed every batter up and down the lineup, and they’re disciplined hitters.

“That’s the frustrating thing with a program like that. I call it snowball fighting where you see the ball flying around, and I think the girls are ultimately trying to make plays, but they’re not really thinking about what the situation is. … You get that ball flying around and that’s exactly what they want.”

The Bobcats made just two errors in the second game but couldn’t overcome a total of nine walks and three hit batters. Starting pitcher Ava Augustine allowed seven runs on seven total walks without giving up a hit in an inning of work. Kennedy Feldman pitched 1 1/3 innings before giving way to eighth-grader Hanna Osgood, who got two outs and gave up three unearned runs in her varsity debut.

The Bobcat offense was held hitless until its final at-bat of the night, when Bowie singled up the middle and Kennedy Feldman followed with a drive to right that skipped through the right fielder. Courtesy runner Emelina Cruz and Feldman both advanced into scoring position, but Fort Dodge hurler Lydia Lara got out of the jam with a line-drive out and a grounder to end the game.

The Bobcats turn their attention now to BCLUW’s Dave Lee Classic in Conrad, starting with Friday’s annual 7 p.m. showdown against the host Comets. MHS is scheduled to play Saturday against Gilbert at 11:45 a.m. and 2A No. 13 South Hardin at 3:15 p.m.

Both of Marshalltown’s wins last year came against BCLUW, but Bowers isn’t interested in the past.

“That doesn’t matter,” he said. “If we don’t play well and we hang our heads and we worry about mistake after mistake, BCLUW’s going to come and punch us upside the head and get a ‘W.'”