It was a wildly successful night for Oskaloosa softball, as the Indians swept conference foe Newton by scores of 7-4 and 4-3.
Alexis Groet would throw two complete game victories while tossing 239 pitches overall on the evening.
In Game One, Groet would strike out 15 Newton batters. She would give up two runs in the first and fifth innings each, but her offense would battle back both times.
In the first, power hitting extraordinaire Emily Valtman hit a two-run bomb to give Newton the early lead. Osky’s Aubrey Miller would hit a two-out three-run double in the 3rd to give Osky the lead.
Newton’s response in the 5th came from their starting pitcher, Peyton Maher. She would hit a two-out two-run single to give Newton a 4-3 lead. It wouldn’t take long for Osky to get those runs back, however. Ashley Kindley and Devan Welch would hit back-to-back two-run singles in the bottom of the 5th to give Osky a 7-4 lead that they would hold until the game went final.
In Game Two, Newton got yet another solo homer from Valtman to jump out on top, 1-0. The Oskaloosa offense would struggle initially against starting pitcher Anna Coyle, which allowed the Cardinals to add another in the top of the 5th on an RBI single by Taylor Ryan.
In the bottom of the 5th, Oskaloosa would break through. Ava VandeWall would hit a two-out two-run single to tie the game, then a fielding error in the outfield on a flyball hit by Aubrey Miller allowed VandeWall to score the go-ahead run.
In the 6th, 8th grader Maddie Haines hit her third home run of the season, a bomb over the centerfield wall. That run proved to be the difference, as Valtman would once again hit a home run in the top of the 7th to make things interesting.
Groet would strikeout her 7th batter of Game Two to finish the win, however, and Oskaloosa’s winning streak grew to 8 with the victory.
Osky is now 21-7 overall and 9-6 in the Little Hawkeye Conference. Newton is now 14-13 overall and 8-7 in the LHC.
Oskaloosa is back in action tonight against conference leader Pella Christian for a doubleheader. These games also double as Senior Night for the Indians. First pitch is scheduled for 6 PM in Osky, with the pregame show with John Hirl starting around 5:45 on 99.5 FM/740 AM KMZN, radiokmzn.com, and the KMZN mobile app.
