Rolling on
By KYLE WILSON
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kwilson@crestonnews.com
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| CNA photo by KYLE WILSON
After being tripped up, Creston’s Dana Miller makes a good recovery against Atlantic Thursday. The Panthers won both games, moving to 26-3 overall and 12-2 in the conference. |
Creston’s Madison Frain was better than normal Thursday — just ask the Atlantic lineup. But even as impressive as the freshman was, allowing just one hit, an infield single in the fourth inning, Creston was down one run, 2-1, with only nine outs remaining.
The Panthers were on the brink of danger. A loss to Atlantic and Creston would wave good-bye the Hawkeye 10 championship.
But there would be no waving.
The Panthers scored five runs in the bottom of the fifth against the Trojanns, getting a big RBI single from Carla Smith through the right side, knotting the game at 2-all. Next up, Aubrey Pendegraft smoked a single back up the middle for the go-ahead run. Creston went on to take a 6-2 advantage after five innings.
“We are rolling along, and our pitcher is rolling along but we were still in a close game,” Creston coach Mike McCabe said. “Then you make a couple miscues and you find yourself behind 2-1. That’s the lesson in softball. You can be playing well, then instantly be in a close one. But we got going in the fifth, and Carla came up with the big hit to tie the ball game. We went station to station for a while after that and put up five in the inning.”
Creston recorded six hits in the fifth inning. Smith, Shelby Kramer, Dana Howe and Madison Frain recorded RBI’s in the fifth. Kramer’s came on a sacrifice fly, the remaining came via singles.
“Everyone was disappointed (we were behind),” Creston third baseman Aubrey Pendegraft said. “But we knew we could handle being behind. We did what we were supposed to, we strung some hits together and scored some runs.”
The Panthers were led by Dana Howe, who went 3-for-3 in her return to the line up. Katlin Briley was 2-for-4 with a stolen base and Pendegraft, who tallied Creston’s first run in the first, finished 2-for-4 with two RBI’s in the three hole. Frain, good in the circle, was equally inside the chalked box, going 2-for-3 with a double and an RBI.
Frain recorded 13 strikeouts, walked one and allowed just one hit. In 163 innings this season, Frain has struck out 228 batters and has an ERA less than one, at 0.81.
“She was pretty tough tonight,” Creston catcher Carla Smith said. Her curv eball was working tonight. We used it a lot to get in on their hands. And her fastball was good, it had a little more velocity than normal.”
Game two
The Panthers jumped on Atlantic early in the second game. Katlin Briley jumped on a fastball and drove it to left center for a double. Creston used a familiar formula, getting a sacrifice from Smith that turned into a base hit courtesy of a miscue by Atlantic on the rotation. Kramer later recorded the first RBI, driving Briley in on a sacrifice fly for a 1-0 advantage.
The Panthers went on to win 3-1, scoring a run in the third as Frain drove in Pendegraft on a double. And Frain again drove Pendegraft, who stole second after being picked off at first, on a single in the fifth.
Frain struck out five and walked won in the victory. Frain, who recorded two RBI’s, and Morgan Evans were both 2-for-3 in the game. With the win, Creston moves to 26-3 overall and 12-2 inside the Hawkeye 10. Barring a slip up, Creston is now in a two team race with Lewis Central (13-2) for first place in the conference.
Creston plays four road games this week, one on Monday at Clarinda, a second at Glenwood on Tuesday and travels to Lewis Central for a double header Thursday for the season finale.
“It’s a big week, McCabe said. “We put ourselves in position, a position we wanted to be in at the beginning of the year.”
