Hawks win one of four in tough tourney schedule

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Riley Jamison fires a strike to fellow W-G catcher Maggi Mallon in a game against DMC June 20..

IOWA CITY — Woodward-Granger visited the University of Iowa Softball Complex for two games Friday and another two today as part of their annual trip to the Clear Creek-Amana Classic.

The schedule was brutal, with Class 4A No. 2 Fairfield and No. 9 Carlisle (the latter was second at state last year, the former third) along with Williamsburg and Tipton. Friday’s slate included a 24-4 loss to Fairfield and 7-0 setback to Williamsburg, but W-G bounced back for a last at-bat 10-9 win over Tipton before suffering a 10-4 loss to Carlisle in Saturday’s games.

The win over Tipton came in dramatic fashion and completed the second lengthy rally of the game for W-G (12-17).

The Tigers (0-23) were looking for their first win of the season and jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the second inning, with four of the runs unearned. The Hawks countered with a run in the bottom of the second, then tied the game with five runs in the third before scoring once in the fifth to grab a 7-6 lead.

Elly Polich replaced starter Riley Jamison in the circle for the top of the seventh, with Tipton using a walk, an error, a double and another error to score three times and take a 9-7 lead with one out. Jamison re-entered the ring, forcing consecutive ground outs to snuff the rally.

The Hawks began their final comeback when Kaycee Major doubled to open the seventh. A ground out from Alissa Smeltzer moved Major to third, from where she scored on an Alexis Bixler ground out.

Trailing 9-8 and with two out, Kayley Dresback drew a walk after falling into an 0-2 hole. Bree Lesch singled to put two runners aboard, with Miranda Aunspach’s ball up the middle misplayed at shortstop, loading the bases.

Jamison came to her own rescue with a single back up the middle, scoring Dresback to tie and game and Lesch to win it.

Jamison drove in four runs on two singles and Major scored three times on a single, double and triple to highlight the offense. Lesch added two hits, two runs and a steal, Maggi Mallon a single and a RBI, Smeltzer two singles, two RBIs and a steal and Dresback two walks and two runs scored.

Polich was touched for three unearned runs on a hit and a walk while recording the first out of the seventh, with Jamison yielding six runs (two earned) on nine hits and three walks in a combined 6-2/3 innings. She finished with two strikeouts.

Carlisle (18-10) proved a much tougher challenge, scoring twice in each of the first two innings, four times in the third and twice again in the top of the fourth to open a 10-0 gulf.

W-G kept the game alive when Lesch, Smeltzer and Kendra Husmann hit consecutive singles, with Dresback driving home a run on a ground ball as the score moved to 10-1.

Jamison walked to open the Hawk fifth, with Emily Lingner entering as a courtesy runner. Major hit a RBI-double, with a RBI-double from Mallon chasing Wildcat starter Molly Hoekstra for Ashynn Williams.

Leach greeted Williams with a RBI-single to trim the deficit to 10-4, with a Husmann single after a fly out keeping the rally going, only to have Williams end the surge with a strikeout and a pop out.

Neither team scored in the sixth, with the game called due to a time limit.

Jamison surrendered 10 runs (six earned) on 10 hits and a hit batsman over six frames. She had two hits at the plate, with Husmann and Lesch also adding a pair of hits. Major had two singles and a double and Mallon a double to aid the W-G cause.

Hoekstra allowed four runs on eight hits and two walks while striking out three, with Williams yielding four hits and also finishing with three strikeouts.

Friday’s action started with a rough handling from Fairfield, who opened an 8-1 lead after three innings. The Trojans led, 13-1, before two Hawk runs in the fourth and one in the fifth kept the game alive, at 13-4. Eleven runs in the top of the sixth created the lopsided final margin.

Husmann had two singles and three RBIs, with Jamison, Aunspach, Major, Mallon and Lesch also had hits, with Aunspach also driving in a run.

Williamsburg was the home team in W-G’s second game Friday. The Raiders sent one run across the plate in the first inning and four times in the second, with single tallies in the third and fourth creating the 7-0 lead.

The Hawks were held to a Mallon single in the second and a Smeltzer double in the sixth.

W-G visits Madrid Monday before traveling to Van Meter for a varsity doubleheader Thursday.

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