The Iola Mustangs more than held their own against the Chanute Comets Tuesday, despite losing 4-2.
The Mustangs, who are having to rely heavily on their underclassmen, held Chanute scoreless for much of the home opener until the Comets rallied with a two-run fifth inning.
Iola coach Chris Weide was impressed with the girls’ effort.
“They battled every inning,” Weide said.
Filling in for injured all-state ace Zoie Hesse, freshman Haidyn Desmarteau made a strong first impression in her high school debut. Although taking the loss, Desmarteau racked up five strikeouts in the complete-game effort. She held the Comets to six hits but allowed two earned runs and three walks.
“She (Desmarteau) did a great job,” Coach Weide said. “Beth Wille is our pitching coach and one of the first things she said was how pleased she was with Haidyn. How she located her pitches and battled through situations.”Also making a strong debut were freshman shortstop Kinzley Fountain put Iola on the scoreboard with a second-inning RBI single, plating freshman pinch-runner Hannah Thompson. In the fourth inning, an RBI grounder by freshman second baseman Bayleigh Scheibmeir, plated senior Faith Warden to give Iola a 2-1 lead.
“We did a really good job, but had a few strikeouts here and there,” Weide said. “We really put the bat on the ball and spread it around a little bit. We got the bases loaded at least two times, but just couldn’t get that big hit.”
Fountain and Scheibmeir tied for the team lead in RBIs with one each. Fountain tied sophomore catcher Addie Wacker and freshman first baseman Breighlynn Rutherford for the team lead in hits with two each. Desmarteau, Warden, Scheibmeir and sophomore outfielder Shayla Karns had one hit each.
“We were really patient when we needed to be and aggressive when we needed to be,” Weide said. “For being a young group, in the first game of the year, they did a lot of good stuff.”
The Mustangs hope to even their record Friday on the road against Neodesha. The contest will be Iola’s final non-league game before facing Burlington on the road Tuesday to opener the Pioneer League season. First pitch for Friday’s game is at 4:30 p.m.
