Indians Fall Victim To Defending 5A State Champs
by Jamie Brockman
Oskaloosa, Iowa – Fans were treated to an early-season marquee matchup featuring two successful teams as the Oskaloosa Softball team welcomed West Des Moines Valley to their complex Wednesday night.
Oskaloosa came in ranked 7th in Class 4A and has been in the state tournament three of the last five seasons, including a State Championship in 2016, while Valley is defending State Champions and top-ranked in Class 5A.
Coaches and Athletic department officials worked all day to ready the field and grass for play and were able to have it game ready in time for the 7 pm first pitch as heard live here on Osky News.
Valley started quick scoring three first-inning runs off three hits and an Oskaloosa error. Ava Vandewall singled to start the bottom half of the first inning but the next three batters were retired, and she was left standing at third base.
Oskaloosa Sophomore pitcher Hayle Hacker and the Indians defense then retired nine of the next 10 Tigers batters, allowing only a single in the fourth inning.
Oskaloosa had several chances to cut into the lead with four base runners in the second through fourth innings but was unable to score any runs.
Valley added another run in the sixth inning off three hits extending their lead to 4-0, and it stayed that way into the seventh inning. Valley’s bats got hot in the top of the seventh scoring four more runs from three hits and two costly Oskaloosa errors giving the Indians one final chance trailing 8-0 heading into the bottom of the seventh inning.
Oskaloosa again had chances to score starting with back to back singles with no outs from Sophie Dykstra and Taylor Wills. With two outs Vandewall ripped an RBI Single scoring Dykstra to erase the goose egg on the scoreboard, but that’s the only run Oskaloosa would manage as Valley got an 8-1 win.
Hayle Hacker took the loss for Oskaloosa throwing six innings allowing 12 hits while striking out four and allowing 0 walks. Freshman Faith Deronde relieved Hacker in the seventh allowing no runs or hits while striking out one and walking none.
At the plate, Oskaloosa tallied eight hits but stranded seven base runners. Vandewall went 2-4 with two singles and an RBI, Ashley Kindley was 1-4 with a single, Maddie Haines 1-3 with a single, Meghan Moorman was 2-3 with two singles, Dykstra went 1-2 with a single while also reaching base on an error and scored the lone Oskaloosa run, and Taylor Wills was 1-3 with a single.
Oskaloosa fell to 2-1 on the young season and will host the 16 team Oskaloosa Softball Classic at Lacey Complex on Saturday.
The Indians open with Chariton at 9:15 am, then plays Mount Vernon at 12:45 pm and finishes with West Burlington at 4:15 pm.
