Walkoff homer ignites Trojan sweep

ATLANTIC — With one swing of the bat, Atlantic’s Zoey Kirchhoff changed the complexion of the Hawkeye Ten Conference softball race Monday night.

With two outs in the bottom of the seventh, Kirchhoff blasted a high fastball from Taryn Fredrickson over the left field fence. Moments earlier, Claire Pellett drew a walk, so the two-run shot provided the walkoff 4-3 victory over the Panthers.

First game

Creston, the defending league champion, also lost the first game of Monday’s varsity doubleheader, 5-2, as Ava Rush and Pellett combined for six hits at the top of the lineup. Riley Wood picked up the pitching victory in that game for Atlantic, now 6-4 overall and 3-1 in league play. Randall had three hits, including a solo home run, for Creston and Mila Kuhns had two hits.

Keely Coen, touched for 10 Trojan hits, took the loss in the opener. Kirchhoff was the winning pitcher in the second game in addition to providing the winning blast.

“She (Kirchhoff) had swing at the first pitch every at-bat, and we knew she would chase, and she hit it,” Creston coach Dave Hartman said. “She’s a good player and she hit it. We threw it clear up in her eyes. We needed to close out with that hitter with the walk (Pellett). I thought Taryn really dominated them with eight strikeouts. I think they had only one other hard-hit ball before the last one.”

Fredrickson allowed five hits with four walks in addition to the eight strikeouts. Creston’s defense wasn’t bad, but not quite in championship form, Hartman said.

“We have people calling out the wrong base in some situations and we need to think ahead of time what we’re going to do and then just execute,” Hartman said. “We had our third baseman going toward second on a groundball with a runner on and two outs, and naturally thinking throw to second. But if she hears people yell out, ‘One, one!’ then she hesitates and that can cost us. So we have some things to work out and we are doing that.”

Creston, ranked 12th in Class 4A last week, fell to 3-5 overall and 3-2 in league play going into tonight’s (Tuesday) home game against Clarinda.

No teams are unbeaten in Hawkeye Ten softball after Monday’s games. Lewis Central, 3-0 in league play going into the week, dropped two games to Glenwood Monday, 12-6 and 10-0. Glenwood is 5-1 in league play and Denison-Schleswig is 4-1 after sweeping Shenandoah Monday.

“Whether it’s Hawkeye Ten or not Hawkeye Ten, it’s just two losses and has no bearing on what we’re trying to do at the end of the season,” Hartman said. “We’re just trying to get better every night, and games like these tonight will help us.”

Big inning

Creston had opened up a 3-1 lead in the third inning in game two, hoping to salvage a split after the 5-2 loss to open the night. Randall, drew a walk and Jersey Foote drilled a double. Ava Adamson’s double drove in two runs, and she scored on Daile Keeler’s sacrifice fly to right field.

Atlantic’s Ava Rush reached base on a throwing error in the fifth and provided a key run to cut it to 3-2 on a hit by Pellett. There was no more scoring until Pellett’s walk and Kirchhoff’s homer in the seventh.

“We had told our kids to be patient and find the pitch they can hit, and leave the rest,” Atlantic coach Terry Hinzman said. “Claire drew the walk and Zoey got a pitch she could drive. I thought both of our pitchers did a fantastic job in the circle tonight. We got some third outs on popups or groundouts to minimize Creston from getting those big innings.”

Clarinda comes to Creston tonight off a doubleheader sweep of St. Albert, 10-9 and 11-1, to improve to 10-4 overall and 5-2 in the Hawkeye Ten.