WEST DES MOINES — Dowling Catholic found the gaps Marshalltown softball couldn’t on Thursday night.

The Maroons hit two home runs in the first two innings, then exploded for eight runs in the third inning of a 12-0, three-inning rout of the Bobcats at Dowling Catholic High School on Thursday night in a Class 5A Region 5 opening-round game.

Dowling (12-27) travels to No. 4 Southeast Polk on Saturday. Marshalltown’s season ends at 11-27.

Marshalltown head coach Jason Bowers used four different pitchers — Karsyn Price, Hanna Osgood, Emma Stupp and Briley Danielson — in hopes of showing a variety of speeds that could put Dowling off-balance at the plate.

“It just never manifested,” Bowers said. “They timed us very well regardless of what we threw at them. A good-hitting ballclub, for sure.”

Kaylee Winter hit a two-run home run off the foul pole in left to get Dowling on the board in the first and Emily Shimerdla cleared the fence in left-center in the second.

In the third, Dowling scored eight runs on five hits, three walks and two errors.

For Marshalltown’s offense, the contact was there but the Bobcats could only get two hits to drop, one each for Emma Stupp and Kennedy Feldman.

“There were a couple times we hit the ball really well,” Bowers said. “If we could have just had something fall for us, I thought we could’ve gotten a couple across for sure, maybe put some pressure on.”

The chemistry amongst the Bobcats was strong, from several of the eighth graders that contributed in the lineup to seniors Ava Augustine, Reagan Ford, Holly Stolzman, and Kristin Hays.

“I thanked all four of them tonight, and I told them that they made my transition as head coach easy,” said Bowers, closing out his first year as Bobcat head coach. “They helped me around the Roundhouse when I was confused on where to go, showed me where all the equipment was, and they were good leaders throughout the year. And I appreciated that from day one.”

It’s the first Bobcat season with double-digit victories since 2013, but Bowers hopes that only makes Marshalltown hungrier.

“They’re happy they had a pretty good season, but they also know we left some games out there that we should’ve had,” Bowers said. “I hope with how they feel tonight after the game, being angry, sad and stuff, and let’s hit the offseason with a little bit more participation and drive to improve.”