OTTAWA — Brandi Pres-ton is a thief. The Iola High senior third baseman stole four bases and scored twice in the Fillies’ 4-0 win over Louisburg High’s Wildcats Tuesday.
Preston swiped three bases — second, third and home — in one inning. The Fillies were up 2-0 in their 2010 Kansas Class 4A Regional Softball Tournament opening-round game. Preston singled to lead off the fourth inning and proceeded to steal second and third base.
With two gone in the inning, Preston saw her opportunity and beat the throw to home plate, scoring.
“Coach (Vince) Coons pretty much gives me the green light when I’m on base unless he wants to put a specific play on,” Preston said after the Fillies ousted the Wildcats from regional contention. “He didn’t give me any signal to steal those three.”
Iola began defense of its Class 4A regional championship a day later than scheduled. Monday’s games, all being hosted by Ottawa High School, were postponed a day because of wet field conditions.
The Fillies move into the regional semifinals Friday against Ottawa High’s Cyclones, who defeated Baldwin High’s Bulldogs 13-3 Tuesday. The game begins at 4:45 p.m. at Ottawa’s Orlis Cox Softball complex on Field 7.
In the other semifinal, top-seeded Paola plays Prairie View. Paola blanked Anderson County 15-0 and Prairie View upended Osawatomie 7-6 in Tuesday’s opening round in Ottawa.
The semifinals and finals had originally been scheduled for today, but those games were postponed because of rain.
Alex Hill, IHS senior pitcher, limited the Wildcats to one hit — a single in the first inning — walked one and notched 12 strikeouts in a complete-game performance. Karlie Struteville was the losing pitcher for Louisburg, allowing eight hits and striking out five.
“I felt good going into today’s game. We’ve been off for a while but I thought we played pretty well,” Hill said. “My teammates played solid defense behind me and we were able take advantage of a couple of Louisburg’s fielding mistakes and hit the ball.”
Leah Weir, junior second baseman, reached on a Louisburg bobble in the first inning. With two gone, senior catcher Molly Riebel drove the softball to the right field fence for an RBI triple.
Preston was safe on another Wildcat error in the second and swiped second base. Preston went to third on a fly ball by Shelby Greenwood. She scored on a base hit by senior first baseman Kylee McKarnin.
Iola’s final run came in the sixth inning. Greenwood, senior right fielder, doubled to right center field and moved to third on a passed ball. McKarnin cranked out a double to the center field fence to drive in the run but was thrown out trying to steal third.
Iola had a chance to score more in the fifth with two on and one out. The Fillies’ Weir and Amanda Carr executed a double steal to get to third and second, respectively. Riebel connected but Weir got tagged trying to dive back to third base then Lyndsi Faulhaber struck out to end the inning.
Iola stranded five runners in the game.
“Our defense played strong and Alex was pitching well,” Riebel said. “It was good to get this win after not playing for a week and a half. We also faced a pretty good pitcher tonight and that was good for us to get ready for the next game in the regional.”
“This was a big win for us but we know we have work to do (Wednesday),” Preston said.
The Fillies’ defense kept the Wildcats from getting any momentum in the game. Faulhaber made several solid stops and throws to first from short stop. In the third inning. Riebel threw out Isabella Hastings trying to steal second base to end the inning.
Hastings was a victim of a running catch in foul territory midway down the first-base line by McKarnin in the sixth inning. Greenwood caught Stephani Gibson’s long smash to the right field fence while facing the sun for the second out of the seventh inning.
Hill finished the game by striking out Karen Caldwell.
“That felt good to end the game like that,” Hill said. “We’re looking forward to challenge of the next game.”
Friday afternoon’s contest pits Iola against the same Ottawa squad that knocked the Fillies out of last year’s Class 4A state tournament.
Fillies shut out Wildcats in regional opener
