No. 13 Mustangs rout Nevada

MONROE — The Prairie City-Monroe softball team’s lineup is pick your poison.

On any given night, someone from the Mustangs’ lineup can lead the offense. Wednesday, the Mustangs cranked out 15 more hits from seven different batters, and a big second inning led Class 3A No. 13 PCM to an easy 11-1 triumph over Nevada.

Seniors Jayci Vos and Kayla Jennings combined to go 7-for-7 with three runs and six RBIs. Sophomore Anna Shaver also went 3-for-3 and scored three times as the Mustangs stayed unbeaten in Heart of Iowa Conference play.

“We have a really strong team this year. Our lineup has been great,” said Jennings, who was 3-for-3 with four RBIs. “It’s not just one person in one game. It’s a lot of us in every game. We really worked in the cage on slowing it down and hitting our pitch and we are hitting the ball right now.”

Junior Madison Foster had two hits, three runs and a pair of RBIs from the No. 8 spot in the lineup. Leadoff hitter Abby Waddell collected two hits, too.

“Anybody on any given day can lead us,” PCM coach Scott Bridges said. “All of these girls can hit. They work hard at it and are just seeing it and hitting it.”

The Mustangs bounced back from a narrow 3-2 loss to 4A No. 12 Carlisle on Tuesday. PCM led 1-0 after one inning against Nevada but blew the game open with a five-run second and then ended the game after five innings following a three-run fourth and a two-run fifth.

Vos hit three doubles in the game. She hit a one-out double in the first inning and then coasted to the plate after a Jennings RBI single.

Senior Brooke Nicholson and Shaver opened the second inning with back-to-back singles. Foster reached on a fielder’s choice to load the bases and then Nicholson scored on a sacrifice fly out to center by junior Kenzie Johnson.

Waddell reached on another fielder’s choice to load the bases. That’s when Vos delivered a two-run double to make it 4-1. Vos and Waddell came around to score on Jennings’ two-out, two-run single by Jennings.

The Mustangs (9-2 overall, 7-0 in the HOIC) sent 10 batters to the plate in the inning.

“I was worried about the first inning because of the slower pitching,” Bridges said. “I just went to some small ball to get their nose over the ball a little bit so they could see it. Once they were seeing it, we went back to it and they starting swinging. Sometimes that’s the trick.”

Vos came into the game hitting .591, but that average will climb after going 4-for-4 with three runs and two RBIs. She is batting as a left-handed slapper for the first time in her high school career, too.

“Back in November is when that started. We have been working on that a lot this offseason,” Vos said. “I was at a hitting clinic at DMACC. We decided to give slapping a try then so I attended a slapping clinic and went from there.”

Bridges said he had never had a player who slapped before. If one of his best players was going to do it, he wanted to be able to teach it.

“I learned how to do it and am just trying to help her when needed,” Bridges said. “She’s pretty good at it, but I won’t take any credit. She’s an athlete and can just do things like that.”

PCM tacked on three runs in the fourth. Foster drove in Shaver with an RBI triple and then RBI singles by Waddell and Jennings and made it 9-1.

Shaver reached on an infield single with one out in the fourth. Foster drove her in with an RBI double. Vos brought home Foster with her third double of the game.

Nevada got its only run of the game in the second inning. Sophomore Maya Hegwood surrendered just two hits in the game and the one run was unearned. Hegwood improved to 3-1 on the season.

Jennings, the team’s ace pitcher, played centerfield for the first time this season because Waddell had to take over for an injured Jaiden Rogers at second base. The team didn’t miss much of a beat.

“We don’t have just one really great pitcher and then no one else,” Jennings said. “Maya is able to step in and get the job done. It feels good to have a rest once in a while.

“It’s good to mix it up. We have had some girls get hurt, but our team is very diverse.”

The Mustangs try to stay undefeated in the HOIC when they host 3A No. 12 North Polk at 7:30 p.m. Friday in Monroe.