PCM softball goes 1-1 at Pella Christian tourney

PELLA — The Prairie City-Monroe softball team split two games at the Pella Christian softball tournament on Saturday.

The Mustangs defeated Humboldt, 5-0, in the opener before falling 7-0 to host Pella Christian in the finale.

Against Humboldt (14-8), sophomore Jayci Vos had two hits and scored two runs to lead the offense, while sophomore Kayla Jennings improved to 4-1 in the circle with three strikeouts.

Senior Rachel Freland took the loss against Class 2A No. 6 Pella Christian.

She struck out four. Sophomore Katie VandeWall had the team’s only hit.

The Mustangs have won five of their last six games and are now 17-9 overall.

They play at Saydel on Monday and at Collins-Maxwell/Baxter on Tuesday.

CMB 6, South Hamilton 5

JEWELL — The Raiders let a 5-0 lead slip away but still hung on to defeat South Hamilton on the road in Heart of Iowa Conference play.

CMB scored three in the first inning to take an early lead. The big hit was a two-run single by sophomore Mikayla Eslinger.

Before that, junior Payge Jurgens hit a sacrifice fly that scored MacKenzie Schmitz.

Schmitz began the scoring rally with a walk, then Katie Camp reached on a bunt single and Abbey Kahler loaded the bases with a single.

The Raiders made it 4-0 in the third when Kahler led off the inning with a double and her courtesy runner, Jordan Wesselink went to third on a Jurgens single and then scored on an Abbey Appelgate RBI hit.

Kahler and Jurgens hit back-to-back doubles in the fifth to push the lead to 5-0.

South Hamilton scored three unearned runs in the bottom of the fifth, but CMB extended the lead in the sixth after Schmitz collected a two-out single, stole second and scored on Camp’s RBI single.

The Hawks (9-13 overall, 5-7 in HOIC) drew within 6-5 in the bottom of the sixth following an error, a hit and a wild pitch.

But Kahler retired the heart of South Hamilton’s order in the seventh and returned home with a HOIC record of 8-4.

Kahler earned the win and gave up zero earned runs. She allowed seven hits, walked four and struck out eight.

Kahler and Jurgens each had three hits and two doubles to lead the offense.

Camp had two hits, while Schmitz, Appelgate, Eslinger and eighth-grader Hannah Caple all had one hit.

CMB (14-13) continues HOIC play at home Monday against Colfax-Mingo. Varsity action in Collins is scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m.

Lynnville-Sully 7, Tri-County 1

THORNBURG — The Class 1A No. 6 Hawks had 10 hits at the plate and senior pitcher Madison Rasmusson allowed just one hit and no earned runs in the circle.

Lynnville-Sully improved to 14-0 in South Iowa Cedar League play.

And after two wins in the Marshalltown Bobcat Classic on Saturday, the Hawks are 24-3 overall and winners of 17 of their last 18 games.

Leading the way for the Hawks against Tri-County was Brenna Lanser and Kasiah Ehresman.

Lanser had two hits, two runs and two stolen bases, while Ehresman tallied two hits, two RBIs and two stolen bases. Lanser had one RBI and Ehresman scored a run.

In the circle, Rasmusson struck out four in winning her 22nd game of the year.

At the plate, Rasmusson doubled, scored a run, had one RBI and stole three bases. She is hitting .512 on the season.

The Hawks swiped 11 bases on the night. Lizzi Van Manen also had two steals along with a hit, a run and an RBI. Ehresman and Van Manen also walked once.

Ehresman is now hitting a team-best .563 and has stolen a team-high 38 bases. Rasmusson is 37-of-37 in steal attempts, too.

The Hawks host Montezuma at 6 p.m. Monday and play at English Valleys on Tuesday.