The highlight of a 10-game week was not the end of it, but rather how the Bobcats ended it.

The Marshalltown High School softball team tallied back-to-back wins for the first time in more than two years by beating BCLUW and Class 1A No. 9 Lynnville-Sully on Saturday at the Bobcat Classic.

Junior right-hander Avery Mull pitched complete games in both wins and also hit her first home run to help the Bobcats (5-23) collect consecutive victories to cap a 10-game week in style.

“They were tired when they showed up this morning and I’m super proud of them, they kept the energy up,” said MHS head coach Jim Palmer. “We were on the 10th game out of a long, hot week, I’m proud of the effort they came out with today.”

Emma McWherter hit a grand slam as Marshalltown downed BCLUW for the second time this season, beating the Comets 6-0 before Mull’s two-run round-tripper gave the Bobcats the early lead in an 8-2 triumph over the Hawks.

“It feels good, we really needed that so it’s a big boost for us and I think it lifted our confidence a lot,” Mull said of Marshalltown’s back-to-back wins since June 6-7, 2019.

Mull held BCLUW (1-27) hitless for the first 6 1/3 innings of Saturday’s opener before finally relinquishing a bunt single to Maleah Jones. Eden Wilson followed with a double to left-center field, but the Bobcats kept the shutout intact when Jones was caught trying to score on Cassie Nason’s comebacker to Mull. A groundout ended the game, sealing Mull’s second shutout of the season.

“It was right there, it was close, but I’ll settle with the win,” Mull said of the potential for a no-hitter. “It really helps when the defense is on and all the pressure’s not on me to do everything. It just really helped and it was awesome to see them play.”

Mull struck out eight, hit a batter and walked none in Marshalltown’s first win since a 2-0 triumph over Des Moines Lincoln nine days earlier.

BCLUW pitcher Katie Hill held the Bobcats to just four hits, but she was unable to atone for three walks and four hit batters. She hit the first three Marshalltown batters in the bottom of the first inning, but escaped with just a scratch. Kailee Pollard’s two-out bloop single scored Mull, but the Comets dodged further damage.

Their luck didn’t last. Khloe Shipley and Autumn Finch reached on walks to start the fourth inning, and everyone was safe on Sophie Younkin’s slow-roller one out later. Hill got the force-out at home on Mull’s comebacker, but McWherter made good contact and launched a grand slam to give Marshalltown a 6-0 advantage.

“It feels really good, I’ve been struggling the past couple weeks but now I have been doing pretty well and it’s a pretty good feeling,” McWherter said. “I see [the pitch] slower, we’ve worked on getting to contact and not standing so low in my stance so I’ve been seeing it really well.”

It was the senior catcher’s third home run in as many days.

“Yeah I can tell when it’s going far and it’s going over,” she said.

That was more than enough for Marshalltown, which also defeated BCLUW 7-3 in eight innings two weeks earlier at the Dave Lee Classic in Conrad.

MHS rode the momentum into their tournament finale, scoring a season-high eight runs to defeat a ranked Lynnville-Sully squad they had lost to during the spring.

“It’s huge, it makes it so much fun for the game and for these girls and it makes me proud,” Palmer said. “We really played two games above what we’ve normally been playing, so it’s so much fun to watch and have them compete.”

Mull tossed a four-hitter to handcuff Lynnville-Sully, leaning on her defense as she registered just two strikeouts in the win. She walked three, including leadoff batter Korinne Jansen, who stole second and third before scoring on an errant throw to give the Hawks the early 1-0 edge.

Mull took it right back, following Younkin’s leadoff single with her first varsity home run to make it 2-0 Bobcats.

“I felt it off the bat, it felt really good and I just heard everybody behind me and I knew it was gone,” Mull said. “My first home run — at first I didn’t believe it, I didn’t know what to think.”

Two outs into the second inning, Mull laced a single down the third-base line and McWherter reached on an error before Ava Augustine dropped a single into right field. Mull and courtesy runner Ava Kusserow scored to make it a 4-1 lead.

Lynnville-Sully got back to within two on Denali Conover’s two-out, RBI single in the third, but the Hawks never advanced as far as second base again. Conover took over for Aliya James in the pitching circle but surrendered four more Marshalltown runs in the fifth.

Pollard started it with a one-out single, her pinch-runner Jordyn Daggett stole second, and Kennedy Feldman walked. Shipley singled to load the bases, and Claire Bohan got an RBI for her two-out, bases-loaded walk. After every runner advanced on a wild pitch, Younkin belted a two-run double off the fence in right-center field.

Younkin finished 3-for-4 at the plate with two doubles, a run and two RBIs. Mull was 2-for-4 with a single and a two-run homer.

“We have to make adjustments to whoever a pitcher may be,” Palmer said, “whether we’re seeing 5A’s top pitcher or we’re seeing pitchers from 1A, we have to make adjustments as batters and we’ve really been talking about that the past two days and it’s helping them realize what adjustments they have to make.”

The Bobcats resume play with Monday’s road trip to Mason City for a CIML Iowa Conference doubleheader. The two teams split their first twinbill.

BCLUW lost its second game on Saturday to 1A No. 4 Lisbon by a 12-0 score, getting no-hit by freshman Addy Petersen. The Lions (26-8) scored 11 runs in the first inning against eighth-grade pitcher Klayre Gallentine.

The Comets play four games this week, starting tonight with an NICL West Division contest at Gladbrook-Reinbeck.

Bobcat Softball Classic

Friday’s Scores

Lisbon 7, Marshalltown 6

Colfax-Mingo 12, BCLUW 0 (3 innings)

Davenport Assumption 13, Lisbon 0 (3)

Bondurant-Farrar 16, BCLUW 0 (4)

Colfax-Mingo 12, Marshalltown 0 (6)

Dav. Assumption 8, Bondurant-Farrar 0

Saturday’s Scores

Marshalltown 6, BCLUW 0

Lisbon 7, Lynnville-Sully 2

Marshalltown 8, Lynnville-Sully 2 (6)

Lisbon 12, BCLUW 0 (3)