March 28, 2024

Newton wins top-15 battle, buries DC-G

Strong hitting gives Cardinals win over Fillies

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NEWTON — Newton High’s softball team showed up to Wednesday’s home game at Berg Middle School ready to hit as the Class 4A No. 13 Cardinals put up 10 runs against sixth-ranked Dallas Center-Grimes and walked away with a 10-3 win in a Little Hawkeye Conference showdown between two top 15 programs.

The girls got off to a rough start making two immediate fielding errors, which helped load the bases for the Fillies in the first.

DC-G scored one run on an RBI groundout in the inning, but Cardinal freshman Anna Coyle settled down the team from the circle and limited the damage.

Newton responded quickly in the bottom half. Clean-up hitter Emily Valtman tied the game with an RBI single through the middle and then the Cardinals took advantage of a couple miscues by DC-G pitcher Allie Boender — a balk and a wild pitch — which scored a pair of runs to put Newton up 3-1.

However, the third inning is what opened up the game.

After Coyle pitched out of a jam in the top half by stranding DC-G runners on second and third, Valtman returned to the plate in the bottom half and began a six-run inning by squaring up an RBI single. The freshman later scored on a base hit from sophomore Audrey Lucas.

“Whenever one person gets a hit it just seems like it keeps going. It’s a lot of fun,” Valtman said. “For me, I’ve been working on my timing a lot. Whenever my timing is off my hitting is really bad, so that’s what I’ve really been working on.”

Taking part in the third inning fun was Peyton Maher, who smashed a double and crossed the plate on a Kennedy Leiker single giving Newton a 6-1 lead. Knocking in two more runs in the third was senior Frances Lucas before the inning finally came to an end.

Cardinal leadoff hitter Sydney Jenkins added one more tally to the scoreboard in the fourth by using her speed to leg out a triple and score on a wild pitch.

The bats quieted down until the sixth inning when Maher reached base for the third time on the evening by driving in Valtman with a two-out single.

The visitors had their moments at the plate as well. The Fillies’ three-hole hitter Madison Carpenter sent a solo blast over the left field fence in the fifth and collected an RBI double in the seventh.

Other than those, Coyle had the Fillies’ number most of the night and earned the 10-3 victory.

“I stayed pretty calm out there today,” Coyle said. “I was hoping I would have a lot of strikeouts and fewer runners on the bases, and that was a big help today.”

The victory over DC-G is a slight redemption for the Cardinal softball team, which lost to the Fillies 4-3 on June 6 in an extra inning game that ended in walk-off fashion.

“Hitting was great tonight. And that’s the difference because they’re a really good team and they can hit the crap out of the ball,” head coach Kristina McNew said. “We showed that we can do the same thing tonight.”

With the victory, Newton improved its overall record to 17-7. The team will travel to Norwalk Thursday for a makeup game beginning at 4 p.m. and then Grinnell Friday. The Cardinals’ Senior Night is scheduled for Monday.