Wolves drop game via mercy rule
In the bottom of the 4th inning of Tuesday’s softball match against the #4 ranked Missouri Valley Lady Reds, the IKM-Manning Wolves only trailed by four runs until the Lady Reds busted the game open dropping a 6-spot, starting with a 3-run home run off the bat of Junior Audrie Kohl, followed shortly after by an RBI triple from Grace Herman to score Paige Bell, which would later be capped off with a 2-run single from Carlyn Christensen. The Lady Reds would go on to win 10-0 via the mercy rule.
“I just wanted them to play with a lot of confidence,” said Wolves Head Coach Cory McCarville. “We won the last game of our Clarinda tournament, and I wanted them to build on that. There’s a reason Missouri Valley is ranked fourth in the state. We were 2-0 with them for a while and 4-0 with them for a while. We gave them some fits, so it’s not all doom and gloom.”
Wolves Senior Ella Richards got the ball to start the night, allowing an RBI double from Kohl to give the Lady Reds an early 1-0 lead, followed by an RBI single by Emerson Anderson as the Lady Reds took a 2-0 lead into the second inning.
Both teams went quiet on offense until in the bottom of the 3rd inning the Lady Reds hit back-to-back home runs from Brooklyn Lange and Juhl.
“Ella did fine,” McCarville said. “She’s always thrown strikes. She’s always done a great job. She’s always kept her composure and she’s a senior. We have all the confidence in the world in her. She did throw strikes and was up in the count a lot. A couple of those home runs were 0-1 or 0-2 pitches.”
In the top of the 4th inning, Wolves Sophomore Anna Stangl was able to draw a walk getting on base, the first of the night for the Wolves. Stangl managed to make it to third base with sacrifice at bats from other teammates, but was unable to score.
“Obviously they [Missouri Valley] have a very good pitcher,” McCarville added. “She [Herman] threw a lot of rise balls and we haven’t seen that a lot and so we have something to work on and adjust when we have batting practice and regular practice moving forward.”
When the Lady Reds returned to the plate in the bottom of the 4th inning, their offense came alive with six runs, and it looked like they were about to add more runs until Wolves Sophomore Karlee Arp threw out Bell trying to go from second to third base to end the inning.
“She did a great job,” McCarville said of Arp. “We’re trying to get all the outfielders to cut through cutoffs, and that’s exactly what she did. She had great footwork and she’s got a good arm. It was a good play for the girls and it’s something to build on.”
The Wolves will continue their busy week starting with the 1-3 Panorama Panthers Wednesday night on the road at 7:30 p.m. Offensively, the Panthers are led by Lindy Nelson with five hits and Arilyan Steenblock with four runs batted in. In pitching, Jadyn Lawrence has one win in 8 2/3 innings pitched, while Steenblock leads the team in strikeouts with eight.
“The biggest thing for us is quality at bats,” McCarville said. “I think we had 10 strikeouts out of 15 outs tonight, and we have to put the ball in play and make girls catch and throw the ball to get us out instead of just strikeouts. So we’ll focus on putting the ball in play a little more.”