Marshalltown saw something it hadn't come across all season on two separate occassions Saturday.
Based on the results, the Bobcats are probably fine with opposing the familiar for the foreseeable future.
MHS struggled at the plate all day against a pair of left-handed hurlers, but still managed to take a split of its two games at the Bobcat Softball Classic, falling 6-1 to Oskaloosa before defeating West Marshall, 6-0.
Article Photos
T-R PHOTO BY TRAVIS HINES
Marshalltown second baseman Quinn Goodman lunges forward to catch a sinking liner Saturday at the Bobcat Softball Classic while teammate Hailee Beals, background, watches from afar. MHS fell to Oskaloosa and defeated West Marshall to finish the weekend 3-1 as the event’s host.
Marshalltown (12-16) had just five hits combined on the day against southpaws MacKenzie Gott of Oskaloosa and Rachel Freland of West Marshall.
"It's tough," said MHS head coach Jeff Lamb of facing a lefty for the first time. "(Slap-hitters) are having trouble with (them) because they're not used to that ball coming away from them as much as it was there."
"Didn't hit the ball as well as we would have liked to," he added, "but we did some good things."
Fact Box
Bobcat Softball Classic
At Marshalltown Community College
Friday's Scores
BCLUW 12, Colfax-Mingo 0, 5 innings
Marion 8, West Marshall 2
Roland-Story 10, South Hardin 2
Marshalltown 9, South Tama 1
Bondurant-Farrar 5, East Marshall 2
Marion 6, South Hardin 1
West Marshall 4, Colfax-Mingo 3
BCLUW 1, Roland-Story 0
Bondurant-Farrar 18, South Tama 1
Marshalltown 4, East Marshall 1
Saturday's Scores
Colfax-Mingo 7, Gladbrook-Reinbeck 6, 9 inn.
South Tama 2, Oskaloosa 0
Dallas Center-Grimes 14, South Hardin 4
East Marshall 10, Lisbon 7
Dallas Center-Grimes 12, West Marshall 0
Marion 6, South Tama 5, 8 innings
Oskaloosa 7, Marshalltown 1
Roland-Story 10, Gladbrook-Reinbeck 0
Bondurant-Farrar 10, South Hardin 1
Lisbon 7, BCLUW 6
East Marshall 4, Colfax-Mingo 2
Bondurant-Farrar 11, Roland-Story 2
Marshalltown 6, West Marshall 0
BCLUW 3, Marion 1
The Bobcats had no trouble capitalizing on Trojan mistakes in the nightcap.
Marshalltown tallied just two hits off Freland, but put up a six-spot thanks to four errors and six wild pitches from West Marshall.
MHS pushed across its first run on a wild pitch in the first, added two on pitches to the backstop in the fourth and then on an error in the fifth.
While Marshalltown didn't have much success solving Freland, the Trojans were unable to get to MHS starter Lauren Mazour, either.
The junior allowed just three hits, walked one and struck out one in her complete-game victory.
Taylor Wagner hit a double in the victory, and Mazour added a single to account for the Bobcats' pair of hits.
West Marshall actually outhit the Bobcats, getting a pair of singles from Jennifer Davis and one from Blair Bailey.
Gott, who will join Lamb's Marshalltown Community College team next year, had seven strikeouts and allowed just a trio of hits in her seven innings of work against MHS.
"She's got a lot of good stuff," said Lamb. "She did a good job of keeping us off-balanced."
The Indians got the first four batters of the third inning on base to score the game's first two runs and then added a third in the sixth on a Bobcat error.
Marshalltown drew within two, 3-1, in the home half of the inning after Madi Bellile slapped a single that was followed by an Oskaloosa error which allowed Wagner to score.
The Indians, however, added three insurance runs in the seventh when Shawni Wills led off with a double and was followed by four-straight singles.
The Bobcats had just three runners reach second base against the Indians, and hurt themselves defensively with five errors. MHS was able to clean things up defensively in the nightcap and did not commit an error against the Trojans.
"The first game it wasn't quite there, the second game it was much better," said Lamb. "That's the thing, if you do it early on, make some big plays and build the confidence, it helps out tremendously."
The Bobcats will now return to CIML Iowa play with a trip to Class 5A No. 3 West Des Moines Valley on the docket for Monday. The Tigers swept MHS, 2-1 and 7-2, earlier this month. The Tigers entered the weekend winners of seven straight.
Dallas Center-Grimes 12, West Marshall 0
Sophomore left-hander Paige Lowary struck out nine in a three-hit shutout for 4A No. 2 Dallas Center-Grimes, driving the Mustangs to a run-rule shortened victory over West Marshall.
Lowary, who has verbally committed to pitch at Missouri, also went 3-for-3 with a double and five RBIs to lead DCG (24-5) at the plate. Tabitha Taylor went 3-for-4 with a double, two runs and two RBIs as well for the Mustangs.
Jennifer Davis had two of West Marshall's three hits and also stole a base, finishing 2-for-2 at the bat. Sadie Simatovich added a bunt single for the Trojans. McKenna Hotopp took the loss.
Roland-Story 10, Gladbrook-Reinbeck 0
Erin Nuetzman limited Gladbrook-Reinbeck to five singles and the Rebels committed five errors in a 10-0 loss to Roland-Story.
Lauren Gauthier was 2-for-2 to lead G-R offensively, while Emily Snider and Kayla Holbach both added singles. Madison White allowed seven hits and two walks but only four earned runs in the loss.
Bryce Holmgren led the Norse (14-10) at the plate, going 2-for-4 with an RBI.
G-R (9-14) dropped a pair of games on Saturday, starting with a 7-6, nine-inning loss to Colfax-Mingo. Paige Thompson, Hayley Weber, Holbach and Snider each had two hits - including a double for Snider.