LE GRAND - East Marshall is in a groove at the plate.
One of the top hitting teams in all of Iowa high school softball was on top of its game on Thursday.
The Mustangs' latest hitting display came in an 11-0 five-inning victory over BCLUW in NICL West play.
Article Photos
T-R PHOTO BY MARK PAWLAK
Katie Roseland of East Marshall smiles as she rounds the bases after hitting a home run on Thursday as the Mustangs hosted BCLUW in Le Grand. The homer was the seventh of the year for Roseland and came in East Marshall’s 11-0, five-inning win over the Comets.
Class 3A No. 6 East Marshall (10-0, 5-0) finished with 16 hits, including two home runs, to overpower a squad in Class 2A No. 11 BCLUW (8-4, 4-1) that entered play tied for the conference lead.
Through the first 10 games of the season, the Mustangs are averaging 11.5 runs per game and have outscored their opponents a combined 115-16.
"We've just been hitting the ball hard all year long and that shows the hard work the girls have done as they came in the offseason and hit," said East Marshall head coach Jary Hoskey.
Fact Box
Comet Invitational Softball Classic Schedule
At Conrad
Friday, June 8
2 p.m. - BCLUW vs. GMG
4 p.m. - Waterloo Columbus vs. AGWSR
5:45 p.m. - Sumner-Fredericksburg vs. Gladbrook-Reinbeck
7:30 p.m. - BCLUW vs. Marshalltown
Saturday, June 9
12:30 p.m. - BCLUW vs. Sumner-Fredericksburg; AGWSR vs. GMG
2:10 p.m. - Charles City vs. Marshalltown; Gladbrook-Reinbeck vs. Waterloo Columbus
3:50 p.m. - Charles City vs. Sumner-Fredericksburg; Marshalltown vs. AGWSR
5:30 p.m. - BCLUW vs. Waterloo Columbus; GMG vs. Gladbrook-Reinbeck
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3rd annual East Marshall Mustang Classic Tournament
Saturday at Le Grand
Pool A: West Marshall, BGM, Aplington-Parkersburg, Grinnell
Pool B: East Marshall, Dike-New Hartford, Colo-NESCO, Marion
High School Diamond
9 a.m. - BGM vs. West Marshall
10:45 a.m. - Grinnell vs. West Marshall
12:30 p.m. - Colo-NESCO vs. East Marshall
2:15 p.m. - BGM vs. Colo-NESCO
3:45 p.m. - Dike-New Hartford vs. East Marshall
5:15 p.m. - Marion vs. East Marshall
Rec Diamond
9 a.m. - Aplington-Parkersburg vs. Grinnell
10:45 a.m. - BGM vs. Aplington-Parkersburg
12:30 p.m. - Marion vs. Dike-New Hartford
2:15 p.m. - Aplington-Parkersburg vs. West Marshall
3:45 p.m. - Marion vs. Grinnell
5:15 p.m. - Colo-NESCO vs. Dike-New Hartford
The Mustangs scored in each of their five at-bats on Thursday. They batted around in both the third and fourth frames, then ended it in the fifth on a walk-off two-run home run by Abby Nuese.
East Marshall entered play second in Class 3A in team batting average (.414) and after hitting its 14th and 15th home runs of the year, the Mustangs trail only North Sentral Kossuth and Pleasant Valley among all Iowa teams.
BCLUW sophomore pitcher Nicolette Simpson (7-3) had an 0.71 ERA coming into the game and went all 4 1/3 innings in the loss.
"They (East Marshall) have a lot of things going for them," said BCLUW head coach David Lee.
"I don't think we made that many mistakes, they just hit the ball so hard.
"They hit everything that we had."
Katie Roseland had another big night at the plate for the Mustangs. The junior catcher went 3-for-4 with a single, double, home run and three RBIs. For the season, Roseland is hitting .571 (20-for-35) with seven home runs and 26 RBIs. Quikstatsiowa.com only listed one player in Iowa with more home runs and RBIs before the night's play started.
"She's just dialed in. I wouldn't want to pitch to her if we had runners on base. I wouldn't want to pitch to too many kids in our lineup right now, we're really hitting the ball well," Hoskey said.
Roseland's two-run home run in the third put the score at 4-0 and started a four-run rally.
Karly Long went 4-for-4 for the Mustangs. Paige Miller added a 3-for-3 night with two RBIs. Nuese went 2-for-4 with a home run and three RBIs, while Callie Roseland finished 2-for-3 with two RBIs.
"Anytime you beat a well-coached team like BCLUW, it's good for you," Hoskey said. "They've had our number for several years."
Haley Long threw a shutout in the circle for East Marshall, holding BCLUW to three singles - two by Kendall Scurr and one by Sarah McCoy. Long struck out five.
"We got really good pitching tonight out of Haley Long," Hoskey said. "She had them handcuffed, I don't know if they had too many balls hit hard. She was hitting her spots."
The sophomore pitcher Long (8-0) forced the Comets to leave five runners on base over the first three innings.
"We just couldn't get anything going offensively," Lee said. "For us to be better, we've got to create some offense and make some stuff happen."
"We needed something to happen early in the ballgame that was good for us to give us some momentum and we just couldn't make that happen," he added.
Both teams are hosting tournaments this weekend.
The East Marshall Mustang Classic is Saturday and begins at 9 a.m. Joining the hosts will be Aplington-Parkersburg, BGM, Colo-NESCO, Dike-New Hartford, Grinnell, Marion and West Marshall. East Marshall has games against Colo-NESCO (12:30 p.m.), Dike-New Hartford (3:45 p.m.) and Marion (5:15 p.m.).
The BCLUW Comet Softball Invitational starts today and goes through Saturday in Conrad. In town with BCLUW will be AGWSR, Charles City, Gladbrook-Reinbeck, GMG, Marshalltown, Sumner-Fredericksburg, and Waterloo Columbus.