CONRAD — The Class 2A No. 12 West Marshall softball team got a brief reprieve from its race for the Heart of Iowa Conference title with a quick revisit to the North Iowa Cedar League.

The Trojans split a pair of games against NICL competition on Saturday at BCLUW’s Dave Lee Classic, falling 1-0 to Grundy Center before blasting AGWSR 10-0 in four innings.

West Marshall (10-5, 7-2) had a six-game conference winning streak snapped last Tuesday by No. 6 Grand View Christian (11-1, 9-0), but a showdown with fellow second-place foe PCM (9-2, 7-2) was washed out on Wednesday.

The Trojans didn’t catch much of a break with Saturday’s opener in Conrad, however, as Grundy Center’s Maddy Hendershot tossed a no-hitter in a 1-0 Spartan victory.

Hendershot also scored the only run, leading off the game with an infield single. She stole second and third base before scoring on Camdyn Aronson’s sacrifice bunt.

That proved to be all the offense she needed as the Spartan defense played error-free behind her to help Hendershot overcome six walks. She struck out six and allowed only one West Marshall baserunner as far as third.

Riley Randall led off the fifth with a walk, moved up on a sacrifice by Alayna Frederick and a groundout by Aubree Greenwood. Back-to-back walks to Brynn Kemmerer and Olivia Randall loaded the bases, but Hendershot induced a pop-up to end the threat.

Hendershot was 3-for-4, collecting half of her team’s hits, while Evelyn Geerdes was 2-for-3 and Lauren Zajac added a bunt single for the Spartans.

Greenwood walked just one and struck out four in the hard-luck loss.

The Trojans turned around to trample AGWSR, 10-0 in four innings, to close out the weekend. Cailyn Brown pitched a five-hit shutout and had three of West Marshall’s eight hits to power the team to victory.

Brown hit an RBI single in the first inning and an RBI double in the second as the Trojans raced to a 6-0 lead.

West Marshall sent five batters to the plate in the fourth and all reached safely, scoring four runs to end the game early against the Cougars (1-14). Jenna Randall was hit by a pitch, Brown singled, Riley Randall walked, Frederick hit an RBI triple and Greenwood drove her home with a single.

Brown walked one and struck out four in the win, finishing 3-for-3 at the plate. Her courtesy runner Samantha Sorsen scored three times. Riley Randall was 2-for-2 with a walk, and Haddie McCollum added a single and scored twice.

West Marshall’s return to HOIAC play hits the ground running on Monday with a rematch against Grand View Christian at Des Moines Hoover.