The Eagle Grove softball team played the Pocahontas Area Indians for the first time this season last Thursday night in Greenwood Park. Both teams were evenly matched with similar records, and the contest turned into a pitching slugfest and low scoring defensive battle.
Freshman lefthander Mya Morgan had her second start of the season in the pitching circle for Eagle Grove. After two quick outs in the 1st inning, Katie Rierson hit a solo dinger over the right field fence to give Poky a 1-0 lead. Morgan immediately composed herself and the Eagles got out of the frame.
Addy Jeske, who leads Eagle Grove in runs, led off with a triple to left center in the bottom of the 1st. Two batters later, center fielder Tarissa Middleton brought Jeske home with a game tying single.
Morgan found her groove in the next few frames and had a three up, three down inning in the top of the 3rd. Unfortunately, the already shorthanded Eagles lost first baseman Myah Edwards to injury after she was struck by a ball in the bottom of the same inning. In her absence, the infield bolstered their defense and Brooklyn Osborn, Crystal Flores, and Chloe Schultz all had several spectacular snags and throws over the course of the game.
The Eagles would load the bases in the bottom of the 5th after Morgan led off with a stand-up double, pinch hitter Lily Locke reached first on an error, and Jeske was walked intentionally. Middleton’s line to left nearly broke the game wide open for EG, but a sure handed catch from an Indian outfielder spoiled the party.
Catcher Chloe Steil threw out her conference leading sixth runner of the year with a perfectly placed throw to second base in the 6th, but the pesky Indians refused to relent. Coach McLaughlin decided to move Osborn to pitcher after an RBI double from Poky made the score 3-1.
Brooklyn struck out three in 1.1 innings of work, but Poky persisted and brought in another run in the top of the 7th. The ensuing Eagle Grove comeback attempt was hard fought, but short lived. Morgan began the final frame with a single, and Flores was hit by a pitch to put two on base. Jeske’s sac fly scored a runner, but the Eagles ran out of outs and eventually fell 4-2 to the now 12-6 Indians.
