Cyclone softball snaps two-game slide at Denison

Schumacher home run highlights 11-3 road win

 DENISON (July 9) -- The Harlan Community softball team endured another rough start on Thursday night, but this time recovered nicely to post an 11-3 win at Denison-Schleswig.
 Madison Schumacher’s three-run homer blew the game open during a five-run fourth inning and the pitching combo of Tianna Kasperbauer and Emily Brouse piled up 12 strikeouts as the 15th-ranked (4A) Cyclones bounced back from losses of 11-8 at Creston and 11-0 at Dallas Center-Grimes earlier in the week.
 HCHS, now 13-4 overall, outhit the 3-11 Monarchs 12-5 and was further aided by seven Denison errors.
 The Cyclones started the game with an error of their own and Kennedy Marten made them pay with a two-out, two-RBI single that quickly put them in a 2-0 hole. HCHS would not make another error until the final inning.
 “We have got to clean up our defense,” said Cyclone head coach Toshia Kasperbauer. “We’re shying away from the ball, and I want them to be more aggressive. We (need to be) cleaning things up and looking sharp out there and we’ve got to do that from the very beginning."
 Kennedy Kjergaard’s RBI single got HCHS on the board in the second inning while Kate Heithoff and Schumacher both singled in runs during a three-run third.
 Then in the fourth, a pair of two-out errors extended the inning long enough for Jordan Heese’s RBI single and Schumacher’s three-run blast to left-center on Hailey Meseck’s first pitch in relief. Her second home run of the season made it a 9-2 game.
 Heithoff’s second RBI hit capped the scoring in the fifth and provided an eight-run cushion for Brouse, who pitched the last three innings to notch her fifth save. She allowed one hit, walked one and struck out six.
 Tianna Kasperbauer (6-1) got the win, also walking one and fanning six in her four innings. She allowed four hits and three runs, but just one was earned.
 Offensively, all nine Cyclone starters registered at least one hit, led by Heithoff, Schumacher and Aurora Miller with two apiece. Schumacher finished with four RBI and Ellie Ineson scored three runs.

 
 

 

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