Creston falls just short of Glenwood

Glenwood’s bats did nearly all the damage it needed in the third inning of the Rams’ 8-7 win at Creston Tuesday.

With a tie game headed into the seventh (7-7), Glenwood’s Erin Stanley roped a double to the gap in right-center to put a runner on with no outs. It was one of three hits on the night for Stanley.

Kelly Embray followed with a sacrifice bunt to get Stanley to third. Then Arianna Springer lifted a sky-high fly to left field, that was deep enough to score the go-ahead run.

Cayla Maitlen reached on a single with two outs in the bottom half and stole second.

She was left stranded as Peyton Rice struck out to end the contest.

The Rams pounded seven hits off of Creston hurler Kylee LaMasters in the third, with each ball finding space where the Panthers were not.

Brielle Smith got the scoring going with a two-RBI single and each of the following three Glenwood batters: Cameron Rounds (double), Erin Stanley (triple) and Maddie Liddell (single) smashed the softball through around and over the infield to go up 5-3. Glenwood added on two more before the frame was through.

“It just seems like anything we threw — I thought location was pretty good tonight — they just fisted a couple balls over the infield,” Creston coach Mike McCabe said.

LaMasters worked through the next three innings and tossed scoreless softball before tactical ball from the Rams helped them to grab the winning run. She struck out three, walked three and fell to a record of 2-6 this season.

Creston got its scoring going from the beginning as LaMasters bashed a single to right to score Peyton Rice (courtesy runner for Chloe Hagle) in he game’s first inning with just one out following a Sara Keeler sacrifice bunt and a Saige Rice walk.

Gracie Hagle poked an RBI single through the left side to score Saige Rice and Heylee Shields (CR for LaMasters) scored on a passed ball for an early 3-0 lead.

Creston tacked on to its score in the third when LaMasters bashed a double to left center to score Saige Rice.

LaMasters went 2-for-4 and was credited with two RBIs.

The Panther bats remained scoreless again until the bottom half of the Creston lineup found success against Glenwood’s Sydney Bermann in the sixth inning.

Peyton Rice, pinch-hitting for Kiersten Latham, slapped a sharp single off the glove of third baseman Cameron Rounds and Brielle Baker’s opposite-field triple to the fence plated two runs to pull Creston closer to 7-6.

“We’ve got 12 kids that can play and are factoring in right now ... it’s a tough deal when you take somebody out and you put somebody in. How are you going to handle that? The human side of us wants to be in there, but sometimes you got to root for your teammate in that situation.”

“Peyton came in and got a big hit for us there,” McCabe added.

Baker then came home to score on a wild pitch for the tie game.

As they’d learn, it was just barely not enough.

“We came back and put a good inning together in the sixth and doggone, too bad we couldn’t find a way to get another run across,” McCabe said.

UP NEXT — Creston (5-9, 2-6) will look to end a four-game losing streak in a doubleheader at Denison-Schleswig (13-2, 7-2) Thursday.

JV falls

The Creston JV squad fell in a good game to Glenwood 8-4. Creston outhit the Rams 6-3, but made several costly mistakes.

Gracie Hagle struck out five and Rachel Boyer finished the game in the circle.

Hagle was 2-for-2 with a triple and an RBI. Sara Keeler was 2-for-2 with a a triple and an RBI as well. Heylee Shields hit an RBI double and Peyton Rice tallied a single.

“After giving up three in the first, back to back triples made it 3-2 after one (inning) and then we scored two more in the second but couldn’t hold the lead. Good JV game,” coach Teri Keeler said.

The JV Panthers are now 4-2.

Glenwood 8, Creston 7

R H E

Glen 007 000 1 — 5 15 1

Crest 301 003 0 — 7 8 1

Glen: Sydney Bermann 8K 4BB and Maddie Liddell, Kelly Embray (6). Kylee LaMasters 3K 3BB and Chloe Hagle. W — Bermann. L— LaMasters (2-6). HR — none: 3B — Glen: Erin Stanley 1. Cr: Brielle Baker 1. 2B — Glen: Hayllee Sell 2, Erin Stanley 1, Cameron Rounds 1, Brielle Smith 1 Cr: LaMasters 1. RBI — Glen: Smith 2, Taryn Bertini 1, Brooklyn Taylor 1, Rounds 1, Stanely 1, Liddell 1, Arianna Springer 1. Cr: Baker 2, LaMasters 2, Gracie Hagle 1. Multiple hitters — Glen: Sell 4, Stanley 3, Taylor 2. Cr: LaMasters 2.