There isn’t really any sort of secret sauce to Iola High’s suddenly white-hot softball team.
“If our pitchers throw strikes, they’re really hard to hit,” Mustang head coach Chris Weide said. “And if we play defense like we did today, we’re really hard to beat.”
Tack on a lineup filled with contributors from 1 to 9, and you have all the ingredients for an eight-game winning streak.
What’s more, Iola has won its last four games, including Tuesday’s 12-2 and 15-9 sweep of Parsons, with ace pitcher Elza Clift relegated to other spots in the lineup because of a sore arm.
“We want to keep this going, that’s for sure,” Weide said. “Any time a bigger 4A school comes in, and you get a sweep, it’s pretty big for your program.”
Tuesday’s catalyst, in a lineup filled with them, was freshman Zoie Hesse, who got things started with a two-run home run in the bottom of the first. Kyndal Bycroft followed with a two-run single of her own, pushing Iola ahead, 4-0, before Parsons got to bat a second time.
Iola took advantage of three Parsons errors sandwiched around a hit batter, making it 5-1 in the third.
It was 5-2 when Hesse doubled in a run in the fourth. She scored on another Viking error, and Bycroft made it 8-2 with an RBI single.
Brooklyn Holloway delivered a two-run single in the fifth, and Bycroft reached on a walk to start the bottom of the sixth. Clift’s line drive to right field landed beyond the grasp of the Parsons outfielder, allowing her to jet around the bases for a game-ending, inside-the-park home run.
Hesse was dominant on the mound as well, limiting Parsons to three hits over six innings with 10 strikeouts. Perhaps even more importantly, she walked only two.
“Every game she’s getting a little bit better,” Weide said. “She made a little adjustment with her delivery, and I think just taking time between pitches more and settling down have helped her a bunch.”
Hesse went 2-for-3 with a double and home run and three RBIs. Clift had a single and her inside-the-park home run with two RBIs. Reese Curry and Bycroft both singled twice, while Holloway and Kinsey Schinstock both had singles.
SCHINSTOCK got the start in Game 2, and after a rough beginning, settled down nicely over the next few innings. She wound up going 3.2 innings, allowing four hits.
And the Mustangs didn’t flinch, even with a 4-0 deficit after half an inning.
Clift opened Iola’s first inning with a single and scored on a triple, a play allowed Curry to scamper home on a Viking fielding error.Holloway pulled Iola to within 4-3 with an RBI grounder.
The Vikings added another run in the second before Schinstock ended the rally without further damage.
