Iola AA Legion team sweeps Ottawa

The Iola AA Indians used clutch hitting to score 21 runs across both games of a doubleheader sweep of Ottawa Sunday. Iola returns to action tonight at home against Parsons.

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June 21, 2021 - 10:15 AM

Dillon Bycroft of the Iola AA Indians bats in a game earlier this season. On Sunday, Bycroft hit a grand slam in a sweep of Ottawa. Photo by Richard Luken / Iola Register

OTTAWA — Iola’s AA American Legion bats were as hot as the weather Sunday.

The Indians twice scored in double figures, winning 10-0 and 11-7 over the Ottawa AAA squad.

Iola racked up 12 hits in the opener in support of starting pitcher Bradyn Cole, who was dominant in a complete-game victory.

He struck out 10 and allowed three hits over six innings. He needed just 73 pitches to complete the shutout.

It took a couple of innings for the Indians’ offense to find its groove.

Dillon Bycroft walked and scored on Trenton Jones’s RBI grounder in the second for a 1-0 lead.

That’s where it stood until Iola took control in the middle innings. Cole singled, moved to second when Cooper Riley was hit by a pitch and scored on Bycroft’s RBI single. Drake DeLaTorre was next with an RBI grounder for a 3-0 advantage.

The fun began with two outs in the fifth.

Nathan Louk’s single scored Titan Michael for a 4-0 advantage. TJ Taylor pushed Louk to second with a single before Cole drove him home with a line-drive single to left. Riley smacked a two-run single up the middle to make it 7-0.

Noah Ashmore added a two-run single in the sixth before Taylor’s sacrifice fly capped the scoring.

Louk, Cole and Bycroft all had a pair of singles to lead the way. Adding one single each were Taylor, Riley, DeLaTorre, Eli Smith and Ashmore.

BYCROFT got the jump on Ottawa in Game 2, blasting a grand slam home run to get things started in the top of the first.

Ottawa crept back to within 4-3 before DeLaTorre laid down a bunt that Ottawa misplayed for an error, allowing Cole to score in the third.

Taylor’s run-scoring single started the scoring in the fourth before Ashmore stole home before Louk and Taylor each scored on wild pitches. 

Louk then made it 11-4 with a double in the fifth, driving in Michael and Jones.

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