Vikings take regular season finale over Cyclones
In the top of the second inning of Wednesday’s softball game, AHSTW Junior Viking Loralei Wahling connected at the plate for an RBI double to score teammate Etta partlow off HCHS Sophomore Cyclone pitcher Lauren Schmitz, putting her team up 1-0, en route to a dominant 8-0 victory, closing out their regular season with eight consecutive victories.
“Our team chemistry has definitely clicked,” said Senior Viking Graycen Partlow. “I’ve watched our team come together as players, as friends, and as people. We’re hitting the ball super well. Almost everybody will get a hit and we pass the bat. Our defense has been extremely solid, and it’s been fun to watch.”
Schmitz pitched a quiet top of the first keeping the Vikings off the basepaths. Etta Partlow took the circle to start the night for the Vikings coming in with a 1.75 earned run average and 101 strikeouts. Partlow pitched a scoreless bottom of the first matching Schmitz.
Wahling got the Vikings on the board in the top of the second raking an RBI double just out of the reach of Freshman Cyclone Taylor Heese to score Etta Partlow putting her team up 1-0. The Cyclones were unable to answer back in the bottom of the second keeping the game at 1-0.
In the top of the third, Etta Partlow helped her own cause with an RBI single scoring teammate Halle Goodman to give the Vikings a 2-0 lead. When the Cyclones returned to bat in the bottom half of the inning, the bats continued to stay silent.
Graycen Partlow got in on the action contributing to the Viking offense with an RBI single in the top of the fourth making it 3-0. The Cyclones got their first hit in the bottom of the fourth inning when Freshman Avery Manz hit a double that went in between AHSTW’s Bella Lamp and Kennedy Wyman.
“Avery has waited a long time for that hit,” said Cyclone Head Coach Tarah Devlin-Lawler. “It was kind of bittersweet for Miss Avery to have a hit on her birthday, so it was amazing to see her get a good connection and get a double out of that.”
When the top of the fifth got going, Wahling contributed once again on offense knocking in Etta Partlow, followed by an RBI groundout by Addison Carroll giving the Vikings a 5-0 lead. In the top of the sixth inning, the Vikings dropped a 3-spot on the Cyclones starting with an RBI double by Clara Pace scoring Goodman. Brooke Lee came in to courtesy run for Pace and scored after a fielding error occurred by Heese making it a 7-0 game, following by a passed ball that went behind Suzy Kenkel allowing Etta Partlow to score.
When Etta Partlow returned to the mound in the bottom of the seventh inning, she shut down the Cyclones leading her team to victory.
“She will always turn back to me and smile when she gets a strikeout,” Graycen said of Etta. “It’s fun to play with her and get to experience this with her and watch her succeed. Not just as a sister, but as a teammate. It’s amazing to watch her go and kill it each game.”
For the Cyclones, they conclude their regular season with a 3-28 record. They will open Regional Play Thursday on the road at 7 p.m. against the 30-6 Clarinda Cardinals in the Class 3A – Region 2 First Round Tournament Game. Offensively, the Cardinals are led by Annika Price with 50 hits, batting .442 and Brynn Isaacson with 33 runs batted in. In pitching, Mallory Woods has 11 wins with 60 strikeouts in 86 1/3 innings pitched with a 3.08 earned run average.
“We just need to have these girls come out and compete and continue to put their hearts out there,” Devlin-Lawler said. “That’s all we can ask for at this point is to continue our motto from the very beginning of just coming out and competing. They’ve done that and they’ve done that very well.”
The Vikings finish their regular season with a 16-8 record. They will host the Logan-Magnolia Panthers Wednesday at home at 7 p.m. in the Class 2A – Region 3 First Round Tournament Game. Offensively, the Panthers are led by Campbell Chase with a .440 batting average with 33 hits and 28 runs batted in. In pitching, Chase has 10 wins with a 2.59 earned run average and 102 strikeouts in 116 innings pitched.
“We’ll have to look to grind at practice,” Partlow said. “Last game we played them, we came out and smoked the ball, so we’ve got to look to start off right away and hit the ball, pass the bats, play strong defense, and not let them get those unearned runs.”