Bizarre is the only word that can adequately describe the softball game Wednesday night between archrivals Oskaloosa and Pella. Although it wasn’t pretty, Oskaloosa found a way get an extra inning win, 8-7.
Pella started the game well, plating the first run in the top of the first. Oskaloosa bounced right back with a six-run first inning, with all of the damage being done with two outs. The Indians would add another run in the second, and the lead would be 7-1.
Pella refused to give up, however, as they would score two runs in the 3rd, two runs in the 6th, and two runs in the 7th. All this occurred while sophomore starter Kinzi Van Wyk managed to stay composed and shut down the Indian offense while her team fought back into the game. Eventually, we would be forced to play extra innings.
Oskaloosa starter Alexis Groet had issues getting quick outs on a sweaty night, but came up huge in the top of the 8th. Pella got Sidnie VanVark on to lead off the inning with a single and she moved to second and third on two separate errors with nobody out.
Groet reached back and got two huge strikeouts, one against All-Stater Sara Tallman, to limit the risk. Hannah Emmert would foul out in left field, and Osky was out of the jam.
In the home half of the 8th, Kylee Silliman led off the inning with a single and was bunted to second by Anna Jones. Aubrey Miller came up and launched a ball to the left-center field gap and Silliman would score from second to win the game for Osky, 8-7.
Oskaloosa is now 12-2 on the season and 4-2 in Little Hawkeye Conference play, while Pella fell to 9-9 and is currently 0-6 in the conference.
The Indians will look to shore up spots in their lineup and defensively, as they have four non-conference games to round out the week. They face Albia on Friday at 7:30 PM as a part of a reunion night with a large contingent of former Indian softball players expected to be in attendance. Then on Saturday, the Indian Classic will be held at Lacey Recreation Complex, and Oskaloosa will play Sigourney at 9:15, Bondurant-Farrar at 12:45, and Fairfield in a rematch of last year’s regional semifinal at 4:15.
We’ll have all three of the Indian Classic games on our airwaves on 99.5 FM/740 AM KMZN, the KMZN mobile app, and radiokmzn.com, starting 15 prior to game time.
