Lightning put an early end to Iola HIgh’s matchup with Independence Friday.
But the Fillings had plenty of fireworks of their own before that.
Iola’s Kailey Schinstock drilled a two-run homer to get things started, while the Fillies Reece Murry allowed five hits and one run as part of a weather-shortened 5-1 victory.
It marked Iola’s third straight victory after the Fillies began the season 0-6.
“It was a great win,” Mustang head coach Chris Weide said. “That’s a pretty solid team they have. They’ve always been good. We knew it was going to be a challenge.”
Iola was up for that challenge early.
Aysha Houk singled, but was caught trying to steal a base before Jenna Curry walked to set the stage for Schinstock, who blasted a 1-0 pitch over the left field fence for a 2-0 lead — no small feat on Iola’s cavernous outfield.
Iola wasn’t done there. Lauryn Holloway followed with a walk and advanced to second on Maci Miller’s single. Zareona Pulley followed with an RBI single to make it 3-0.
Chloe Sell, who made a number of highlight plays in the outfield, opened the second by reaching on a Bulldog error. She came around to score on Schinstock’s two-out single to make it 4-0.
“Kailey really got the team going with her bat,” Weide said.
Pulley singled with one out in the third and scored on an error to make it 5-0.
Independence opened the top of the fourth with a pair of hits for its only run of the game, but Murry forced a fly ball and two ground-outs to end the threat.
“Chloe Sell made a couple of plays that really saved us,” Weide said.
Sell ran down fly balls, both times with runners on base, in the fourth and fifth innings, respectively.
Murry then worked around a single and walk in the top of the sixth to keep the Bulldogs off the board.
Iola was coming to bat in the bottom of the sixth when lightning and rainy weather forced the umpiring crew to end the contest early.
