RED OAK — The Creston softball team showed improved patience here Friday afternoon in a 14-0 win over Red Oak.
The win came just three days after an 11-1 win over the Tigers at home, in which the Class 4A 10th-ranked Panthers struggled to adjust to slower pitch velocity.
But Friday, the Panthers took a more patient approach at the plate, and it paid off with 14 runs on 13 hits.
The Panthers got out to a fast start, as Josie Sickels led off the game by reaching on a hard hit ball that went down as an error. The next five Panthers in the batting order recorded a base hit, as the Panthers scored five runs in the first inning.
Senior catcher Natalie Mostek led the way for the Panthers, going 3-for-3 at the plate with two doubles and three runs batted in. Haylee LaMasters continued her stellar season by going 2-3 with a double, a triple and two RBI.
Taylor Briley and Alli Thomsen each finished with two hits and one RBI.
“We just came out and the top of the order did a really nice job of timing it up,” Creston head coach Mike McCabe said. “We had a little trouble with that the other night and had a slow start. Wasn’t until the third or fourth inning did we slow down and put the bat on the ball. We did that early today.
“They just lost to Harlan last night (Thursday) in a good, 9-6, competitive game, so they had a little momentum coming in. It was good to jump on them early.”
LaMasters was dominant in the circle, as well. The Panther senior struck out seven of the 10 batters she faced in the game, issuing no walks and giving up just one bloop single over Briley’s head down the third base line.
The Panthers added a single run in the second inning and exploded for eight more in the third inning, ending the game in three innings.
Creston improved to 23-6 overall and 15-3 in the Hawkeye 10 Conference. The Panthers hosted Kuemper Catholic in a varsity doubleheader this morning, needing to win only one of the two games in order to clinch the outright Hawkeye 10 Conference softball title.
It would be the school’s sixth conference championship in eight years.
“We’ve got to get one of them. That’s what we’ll set out to do,” McCabe said. “That’s kind of been like I thought it would be, the last couple of weeks in the conference, everybody beating everybody. Kind of crazy. That’s why you’ve got to play all of them.”
Following the doubleheader against Kuemper Catholic, the Panthers are scheduled to host Class 4A sixth-ranked Winterset tonight in a JV and varsity doubleheader, with JV action beginning at 5:30 p.m. and varsity to follow. Senior night recognition will take place prior to the varsity game.
Junior varsity
Creston’s JV team improved to 8-1 for the season with a 12-0 win over Red Oak on Friday.
The Panthers took advantage of eight Red Oak errors in the win.
Mattie Wheeler finished 2-for-3 with a double, while Kiersten Latham was 1-3 with one RBI. Chloe Hagle was 1-3 with two RBI and Cali Foglesong was 1-1 with an RBI.
Foglesong struck out two and walked one, while giving up just one hit in the win.
“Good game,” Creston JV coach Teri Keeler said. “Put the bat on the ball and took advantage of some errors along with the hits.”
The Panthers finish the JV season tonight against Winterset.
Creston 14, Red Oak 0
R H E
Creston 518 — 14 13 0
Red Oak 000 — 0 1 5
Cr: Haylee LaMasters 7K 0BB and Natalie Mostek. RO: Zoey Welter 2K 2BB and Shelbie Perez. W — LaMasters. L— Welter. HR — none. 3B — Cr: LaMasters 1. 2B — Cr: Mostek 2, Taylor Briley 1, LaMasters 1. RBI — Cr: Mostek 3, LaMasters 2, Briley 1, Brenna Baker 1, Alli Thomsen 1, Shelby Palser 1, Alyssa Higgins 1. Multiple hitters — Cr: Mostek 3, Briley 2, LaMasters 2, Thomsen 2.