ATLANTIC – Atlantic’s softball team proved again it can compete with the best in the state, no matter how big or how small.
Friday came the latest example, and Class 5A No. 7 West Des Moines Dowling found out why.
Timely hitting, sound defense and clutch pitching all combined to make the Trojans a winner Friday against the Maroons … a convincing 8-3 winner on the Trojans’ home diamond and against a team from the conference that has had the queens of softball.
A six-run fourth inning made the difference.
Jillian Saathoff’s lead-off double and Dylin Ball’s two-run double, plus Makenna Schroeder’s sacrifice bunt that drove in another run, and singles by London Kirchhoff and Kinsley Johnson were all part of the effort.
Dowling came back with Abby Johnson’s home run in the top of the fifth, and had other chances later on to get back into the game, but Brynn Lamp bore down and got out of whatever trouble she was in, which was rare. Peyton McLaren then came in the seventh and finished the job.
The Dowling game was quite a contrast to just a night earlier, when the Trojans downed Red Oak, on the opposite end of the success spectrum, team by 41 runs over two games. The Maroons been elite and thrived for years, particularly in the Central Iowa Metropolitan League, whereas the Tigers are working just to get established, and will have better opportunities in the Western Iowa Conference a year from now.
“Dowling’s ranked in (Class) 5A, so you know that they’ve got good hitters that they put the bat on the ball and they see good pitching as they’re playing in the CIML,” said coach Terry Hinzmann. “But, you know, Brynn (Lamp) was step for step with them the whole way. We, towards the end of the game, wanted to stick to the script, and the script was to get Peyton at least an inning. She took the seventh when the top of the order came up and she shut them down too.
“I think all three facets of the game – hitting, pitching and defense – if you can perfect all of those, you have a chance to win some ball games.”
The Trojans finished with 11 hits, with London Kirchhoff, Saathoff and Ball each with two hits as every Trojan reached base. Kirchhoff, Ball and Makenna Schroeder each had two RBI. Lamp gave up six hits and struck out two in six innings, while the defense backed McLaren in her one inning of work.
The Trojans improved to 27-5 with the win and were set to play Sioux City Heelan on Monday evening.