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Greenwood powers Trojans into regional final

STATE CENTER — Anything West Marshall junior Aubree Greenwood contributes on top of her pitching is considered gravy.

As if throwing a five-hitter wasn’t enough, Greenwood popped her first home run of the season to lead the No. 14 West Marshall softball team to a Class 2A Region 1 triumph over Woodward-Granger on Friday night, 6-1.

The Trojans (23-10) will take on No. 2 Grand View Christian (26-3) in Monday’s 7 p.m. regional final at Des Moines Hoover in hopes of advancing to state for the first time since 2017. The Thunder won both regular-season meetings with West Marshall on their way to the Heart of Iowa Conference title, scoring narrow victories of 4-0 and 3-2.

Greenwood struck out six and walked none while helping to stake the Trojans to a 4-0 lead over the Hawks (15-15) after two innings. Alayna Frederick reached on a fielder’s choice before scoring in front of Greenwood, who walloped a 1-0 offering from W-G’s Olivia Lantz over the left-field fence for a 2-0 lead.

West Marshall kept it rolling thanks to three-straight walks, an RBI single by Rachel Randall and a sacrifice fly by Ashtyn Blood.

Woodward-Granger got its lone run on back-to-back hits in the fourth, but West Marshall answered it right away. Cailyn Brown led off with a single, moved up on a sacrifice bunt and scored on Greenwood’s single.

Greenwood led off the sixth with a double, and her courtesy runner Evalyn Clark came around after a bunt single by Olivia Randall and a passed ball with two outs.

The Trojans finished with eight hits, led by Greenwood’s 3-for-3 performance. Brown had two hits while Rachel, Riley and Olivia Randall added one each.

Jaidyn Achenback had two of Woodward-Granger’s five hits, scoring on a double by Lucy Fleshner in the fourth. Fleshner pitched four innings in relief of Lantz and allowed only two runs — one earned — on five hits and one walk while striking out six.

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