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Senior night is always a night filled with a great deal of emotion. Even with a week-plus of games to go, the nostalgia invoked by playing in a last regular season home game is enough to overwhelm the average high school senior.
Creston seniors Taylor Briley, Alyssa Higgins, Shelby Palser, Jami and Josie Sickels, and Alli Thomsen played in their last regular season home games at Panther Field on Thursday.
Those emotions didn’t faze the Panthers as they disposed of Council Bluffs St. Albert in two straight in Hawkeye 10 play.
The Panthers fought to win a tightly-contested game one 6-4 and thrashed the Saintes 12-0 in four innings in game two.
“It’s always kind of sad, but at the same time we talked before the game, we went out the that way we wanted to. I know we have another game on this field, but it was a fun senior night,” said Thomsen.
Game one
After strong early performances by Creston’s Cali Foglesong and St. Albert’s Bailey Clark in the circle, the Saintes pushed across two runs in the third inning on a walk, a single, a throwing error by Taylor Briley and RBI-groundout.
“We kind of aided them in that third inning,” Creston coach Mike McCabe said.
The Panthers notched a run in the bottom half when a Shelby Palser RBI-single scored Jami Sickels after the former doubled to start the inning. Creston tied it up in the fourth thanks to an impressive display of speed by Kiersten Latham. After Thomsen singled with two outs, McCabe substituted Latham for Thomsen. With Alyssa Higgins at the plate, Thomsen stole second and third, and then scored when the throw to third got away.
The run energized the Panthers. Higgins did ground out, but the Panthers had their biggest inning in the fifth after Cali Foglesong set the Saintes down in order in the top of the frame.
The old guard and the new guard both demonstrated their chops in the fifth. Freshmen Saige Rice and Brielle Baker reached base with one out. A Josie Sickels double plated both to give Creston a 4-2 lead. After reaching third base, Palser grounded out to score Sickels.
Creston added on in the sixth when Thomsen reached on a single and eventually scored on a passed ball.
Thomsen went 2-for-3 in the game.
In the seventh, Folgesong gave up a long ball to St. Albert’s Bailey Clark to allow the Saintes back within two at 6-4. After an error allowed the next runner to reach. Foglesong fell behind 2-0 in the count on the Saintes’ Gabby Burke. After a talk with McCabe at the mound, Foglesong threw three straight off-speed strikes to end the game.
“I really don’t care about the home run, I said, I told you (Cali) ‘the biggest out was the first out and you got that one.’ “She bared down, and came back and struck out the kid,” McCabe said.
Foglesong picked up her 10th win of the season with the victory, as she struck out six batters and walked one.
Game two
After celebrating the six Creston seniors in between games, the Panthers came out fired up and quickly took game two.
Briley pitched for the first time in a week as she healed a hurt finger on her throwing hand. The first pitch Briley threw was wild and over the head of the returned Chloe Hagle, who played in the second game for the first time since suffering a head-injury last weekend in Oskaloosa. After that first pitch, the next four innings were smooth sailing. She picked up the win by allowing one hit, striking out two and not walking anyone.
The Panthers pounced on the Saintes to the tunes of three runs in the first and eight in the second.
Creston had a chance to field a good number of junior varsity players in the third and fourth and it was Brielle Baker who drove in Breanna Ross to end the game.
McCabe switched the lineup for game two, sending Lexie Little to hit in the five-spot and Alli Thomsen to hit cleanup, something that happened at the last minute.
“I jokingly said, ‘Hey Lex, I’m going to let you see Alli’s pitches and Alli, I’m going to let you see Lexie’s pitches’ so it wasn’t a big deal but Alli responded nicely and had a couple timely extra base hits for us.”
Thomsen must have been happy about the move, as she continued her hot hitting with a 2-for-2, two double, three-RBI performance.
She finished 4-for-5 over the two games.
Every Panther senior got at least one hit in the doubleheader.
Mattie Wheeler, Cayla Maitlen, Morgan Shawler, Sara Keeler, and Morghan Frey all saw time on the diamond.
The third inning got particularly ugly, as error after error — (four consecutive to start the inning) — allowed the Panthers to push across eight runs. The Saintes committed 10 errors in the second game.
Thursday was another couple successful statement win with tournament play approaching.
The feelings were a lot to consider when the ceremony took place in between games and after the doubleheader was over.
“I’m sorry to see those kids go. Those six kids have been a big part of what we’ve been able to do the last several years,” McCabe said. I’m thankful to have the chance to coach them. They’re all great kids, fun to be around.”
Success has been no stranger to these Panthers and this senior class in particular. Over the last four years, Creston has won 88 games and has taken home two Hawkeye 10 titles.
“There has always been a bar there that we wanted to live up to, and it’s always been kind of the sport at Creston, and we’re just happy that we raised the bar for the kids younger than us and just keep that standard alive,” said Thomsen.
In a way, knowing that games are ahead helps the Panthers not to get down too much. That, and there’s the fact that Creston has a home regional opener to play at home yet.
The Panthers trek to Cedar Rapids for two games this weekend. Creston will play Dubuque Hempstead and Davenport West on Saturday.
“Hopefully we can go and have a good weekend and kind of get ourselves focused for the last three games of the conference and then end of the regular season and on to the tournaments. It’ll be here before you know it,” McCabe said.
Creston is now 18-8 and 13-4 in Hawkeye 10 play.
Game one
Creston 6, St. Albert 4
R H E
St.A 002 000 2— 4 6 4
Crest 001 131 x— 6 6 2
St.A: Bailey Clark 8K 2BB and Clare Noethe. Cr: Cali Foglesong 6K 1BB and Jami Sickels. W — Foglesong. L— Clark. HR — St.A: Bailey Clark 1 3B — none. 2B — Cr: Jami Sickels 1, Josie Sickels 1. RBI — St.A: Bailey Clarke 2, Gabby Burke 1. Cr: Josie Sickels 2, Shelby Palser 2. Multiple hitters — St.A: Bailey Clark 2. Cr: Alli Thomsen 2.
Game two
Creston 12, St. Albert 0
R H E
St. A 000 0xx x— 0 1 10
Crest 380 1xx x— 12 6 1
St.A: Gabby Burke 0K 0BB, Nicole Bolgar (1) 1K 1BB and Clare Noethe. Cr: Taylor Briley 2K 0BB and Chloe Hagle. W — Briley. L— Burke. HR — none 3B — Cr: Jami Sickels 1. 2B — Cr: Alli Thomsen 2, Taylor Briley 1. RBI — Cr: Alli Thomsen 3, Jami Sickels 2, Taylor Briley 2, Shelby Palser 1. Saige Rice 1. Multiple hitters — Cr: Alli Thomsen 2.