Chris Weide insisted to anyone, but especially to his Iola High softball players, that they were a better team than they realized.
It may have taken a bit longer than he wanted, but the Fillies may have just found out how accurate Weide’s prediction was.
The previously winless Iola squad scored early and often, while playing sparkling defense throughout in a doubleheader sweep of visiting Anderson County, 11-1 and 8-2.
The victories were Iola’s first two of the season.
“Like I told the girls, if we play defense, we hit and we pitch like we did, we’re pretty dang good,” Weide said. “We really are. We’ve got a lot of great players, and now they’re getting a lot of confidence.”
A 10-run first inning paved the way in the opener,
Aysha Houk and Reece Murry sandwiched singles around a walk to Jenna Curry, but Anderson County looked to wiggle out of the jam by retiring the next two batters.
But Maci Miller’s line drive with the bases loaded was misplayed by Anderson County’s third baseman, clearing the bases, for a 3-0 lead.
Zareona Pulley’s single drove in Maci Miller, before Jenna Miller singled and Chloe Sell was hit by a pitch to reload the bases.
Another Bulldog error preceded Curry’s single to make it 8-1. Curry scored on Murry’s second hit of the inning, a double, and Kailey Schinstock drove in the 10th run by lining a single to right.
That was all starting pitcher Murry needed from there. She surrendered five hits over her five-inning complete game with nine strikeouts.
Just as importantly, Iola’s crisp defense was able to keep Anderson County at bay on the few instances when the Bulldogs were able to make contact.
To wit, Rayna Jasper hoped to start a Bulldog rally in the third, when she laced a line drive to the wall in the top of the third with two outs.
But Sell, Houk and Curry teamed up for a nifty relay to gun down Jasper as she attempted to stretch her double into a triple.
“Chloe got to the ball quickly, Aysha had it lined up for the relay, and Jenna was communicating with her all the way,” Weide said. “We work on that in practice a lot.”
Curry and Murry singled with two outs in the bottom of the fifth before Schinstock ended the game with an RBI single, putting the spread at 10 runs.
