COLFAX — The Colfax-Mingo softball team needed a pick me up after an unfortunate loss to Tri-County on June 8. It was third loss during that week and pushed the Tigerhawks down a few spots in the Class 1A rankings.
Since that loss, 1A No. 11 Colfax-Mingo has turned things around. The solution: ice cream.
The Tigerhawks won their fifth straight game Thursday following an 11-1 nonconference home victory over 2A Pleasantville. During that win streak, Colfax-Mingo is outscoring its opponents 65-16.
Colfax-Mingo has scored 60 runs this week. If it can score 10 runs against Iowa Valley on Friday, the team gets free ice cream.
“The ice cream thing started Tuesday against Grand View,” Colfax-Mingo senior Alivia Haley said. “We had 17 runs and coach said if we got to 20 then we’d get free ice cream. Then after the Keota game, we had 49 runs for the week. He then said if we get to 70, we can get ice cream again. It might be the ice cream. It’s worth it.”
Whether or not ice cream had anything to do with the Tigerhawks’ resurgence or not, Colfax-Mingo seems to be hitting its stride at the plate.
The home team belted 13 hits Thursday against the Trojans (9-9), including five extra base hits.
“We went through a cycle where we weren’t putting hits together. Now, we are cycling through a stretch where we are,” Colfax-Mingo coach Bryan Poulter said. ‘And we are doing it up and down the lineup. The hits are coming at a high rate, and the kids are feeding off each other.”
Haley had three hits, three runs and two RBIs. She also was hit by a pitch during her at-bat in the first inning. Her season batting average has risen to .400 with a strong week.
“I didn’t get off to a very good start this year,” Haley said. “I am not sure why I am seeing it better this week, but I have been hitting it better.”
Pleasantville got on the board first in the top of the first inning against Tigerhawk senior Amy Russell. The Trojans got two of their four hits in the game in that frame and led 1-0 before Colfax-Mingo had a turn at the plate.
Once the Tigerhawks (14-7) were given that chance, they wouldn’t slow down.
Junior Ries Wilson started the bottom of the first with a single and then moved up to second after Haley was hit by a pitch.
Russell drove in Wilson with an RBI single and then junior Rhiannon Haley brought in her older sister with an RBI fly out.
The score remained 2-1 until the third. Alivia Haley began the bottom of the third with a single and then Russell doubled to put two runners on base. Rhiannon Haley drove in both runs with a two-run single. Rhiannon Haley now has 25 RBIs and Alivia Haley scored her 27th run.
Sophomore Colbee Cunningham then made it 5-1 with an RBI double that scored Rhiannon Haley.
“There are a lot of girls in this lineup that can square balls up, and right now they are squaring it up,” Poulter said. “We are not chasing pitcher’s pitches when we are ahead in the counts.”
Sophomore Chelsea Russell opened the fourth inning with a walk and then her courtest runner, eighth-grader Kira Warrick, moved up a base following a Wilson single. Alivia Haley’s RBI single scored Warrick and then Russell laced a two-run double to make it 8-1.
Russell had three hits, three RBIs and scored two runs. She improved her team-best batting average to .523 and now has a team-high 28 RBIs, which ranks tied for fifth in 1A.
The Tigerhawks ended the game early in the fifth with a pair of runs. Eighth-grader Madison Gilkison drew a one-out walk before scoring on an RBI triple by Wilson. Alivia Haley ended the game with a walk-off RBI single.
“We learned and grew a little bit from that Tri-County loss,” Alivia Haley said. “We went to Adel and won some big games. We knew this could be a big week, too, and it has been.”
Poulter’s underlying message to his team after they lost three of their first four games last week was not to take anyone lightly.
“We had a conversation about not playing to your opponent’s level after that game,” Poulter said. “But it did take something like that to show them that it’s not OK and acceptable to just show up. We have to come ready to go every night.
“I think we got off that idea. Since that loss, we have been in the mode of taking care of business on every out and in every inning. We would have liked to have a do-over during that week of losses to Tri-County and Sigourney. We can’t take those back. Hopefully we are back on track now.”
The 1-2-3 hitters in the Tigerhawk lineup went 9-for-10 on Thursday. Wilson was 3-for-4 with three runs and one RBI and Alivia Haley and Russell both finished 3-for-3. Wilson’s average has climbed to .389 after a slow start.
Russell earned the win in the circle and is now 10-2 on the season. She allowed one earned run on four hits, fanned nine and walked one in the victory. Russell now has 98 strikeouts on the season.
Colfax-Mingo, which is 7-3 in the South Iowa Cedar League, plays Iowa Valley (2-16 overall, 1-8 in the SICL) at 6 p.m. Friday in Marengo.