March 28, 2024

Midnight madness

Clarke returns to 3A title game

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FORT DODGE — The Clarke softball team advanced to the Class 3A state championship game for the second straight year with a 4-1 win over Greene County in a semifinal game that started at 11:02 p.m. Thursday and concluded at 12:22 a.m. today.

Earlier in the day, the State Softball Tournament went into a weather delay because of lightning. That delay lasted three hours.

The delay, combined with the Class 5A game between West Des Moines Valley and Johnston going into extra innings, pushed the start time of Clarke's game back until 11:02 p.m.

But the delay didn't stop the Lady Indians from returning to the Class 3A title game.

"The kids know I don't let them talk about the weather," Clarke head coach Lindsay Diehl said. "We actually like being in those situations. We know other high school teams might not have the mental strength we have. We try to use that as motivation. When it started raining, we got excited."

Early lead

Both pitchers — Clarke's Libby Bemis and Greene County's Marissa Promes — worked quickly through the first two innings.

But in the bottom of the third inning, Clarke struck for a 1-0 lead when sophomore Ally Deutsch blasted a solo home run to center field.

Deutsch fell behind early in the at-bat, but battled, fouling off several pitches before the home run.

"I was actually shocked," Deutsch said. "It's great to have it in a regular season game, but at the state tournament, it's amazing."

It continued Deutsch's hot streak. Deutsch was 2-for-2 in Monday's quarterfinal game with three runs batted in.

"Ally's bat has been hot," Diehl said. "She pushed somebody out of our lineup with her bat being hot. I love/hate it when kids make me make those decisions. But you kind of have to go with whose bat's been hot and her bat is hot for sure."

After going three up, three down in the bottom of the fourth inning, Clarke added to its lead in the bottom of the fifth inning.

Once again, it was the bottom of the order starting things.

Sara Andrew, making her return to the Clarke lineup at third base and in the seven-hole, hit a one-out single up the middle. Sydnee Redman, who moved to second base with Andrew's return, followed with a single to right field.

Leadoff batter Kennedy Crees drove home Andrew with a single to right field.

Then, freshman shortstop Vanessa Bakley brought home two more with a single to center field.

"That swing wasn't even fundamentally sound," Diehl said. "She got out there on her front foot and stayed through the ball and dropped one in that was able to score two runs for us."

It was a big hit for Bakley, who had been caught stealing earlier in the game and had popped up a bunt for an inning-ending double-play.

"I always tell the kids, if you make a mistake, the game is going to come back to you," Diehl said. "She'd gotten on base and made some mistakes, and the game, it came back to her. She was able to step up and perform."

Diehl also praised Bakley's play in the field, making several tough plays up the middle.

"I'm pleased with the way we played all around on defense," she said.

Late scare

Needing just three outs to return to the state title game, Clarke looked to be on cruise control.

But, Greene County first baseman Hannah Onken sent the first pitch of the seventh inning over the center field fence, cutting the lead to 4-1.

Then, Tressa Rasmussen recorded her second single of the game, putting a runner on with no outs.

Diehl made a trip out to the pitching circle to calm her team down.

"She just told us to stay loose and go for outs," Bemis said. "That home run was my fault. I missed a pitch. It happens, we just needed to get outs, because we were up by three."

And that's exactly what Clarke did.

Redman made a play at second base, getting the lead runner on a fielder's choice. Bemis then got Carleigh Paup to pop up a bunt for the second time in the game for the second out.

Bemis closed out the game with a strikeout of Bailey Godwin, Bemis' 12th strikeout of the game. She issued just one walk and gave up only four hits.

"Libby was in control the whole time," Diehl said. "She's so calm and cool."

"Them having not seen me before helped out a lot, not knowing my tendencies and what I'm used to doing," Bemis said. "That helped me a lot and throwing my different pitches to keep them off balance."

Rematch

The win sets up a rematch at 2:30 p.m. from last year's Class 3A state championship game, which Bondurant-Farrar won 6-3.

The Lady Jays were an 8-4 winner over East Marshall Thursday night in the semifinals.

"This is exactly where we wanted to put ourselves, to have the opportunity to be back in the championship game," Diehl said. "I kind of anticipated it was going to be Bondurant. We were working on things we anticipate seeing from them. I like playing them. It'll be fun to have a rematch against them in the title game."

The two teams met back on June 21 at the Oskaloosa Tournament, with Clarke winning 5-3.

But today's matchup will be the only one that matters.

"This one's for everything now," Bemis said. "We played them before. I feel good about where we're going, going into it. Second place isn't an option. We're going to give them everything we've got."

Clarke 4, Greene County 1

R H E

Greene Co. 000 000 1 — 1 4 2

Clarke 001 030 0 — 4 6 1

GC: Marissa Promes 2BB 5K and Hannah Cooklin. Clk: Libby Bemis 1BB 12K and Kassidy Spurgin. W — Bemis. L— Promes. HR — GC: Hannah Onken 1. Clk: Ally Deutsch 1. 3B — none. 2B — none. RBI — GC: Onken 1. Clk: Vanessa Bakley 2, Kennedy Crees 1, Deutsch 1. Multiple hitters — GC: Tressa Rasmussen 2. Clk: Bakley 2.