Cardinal softball edged by pair of ranked squads

NORWALK — The Norwalk softball team is ranked third in Class 4A. And Newton battled the Warriors for seven innings and only a Cardinal error was the difference in a 2-1 road loss during Little Hawkeye Conference action on Friday.

Both teams had four hits, but Newton’s error in the fourth inning was the only miscue in the game by either team.

“We gave the No. 3 ranked team everything they could handle,” Newton head softball coach Kory Leiker said. “The only difference in the game was we had one error. The girls fought hard and made great strides tonight. We can’t give teams like that an extra out.”

The Cardinals (6-3 overall, 2-1 in the conference) scored first and led 1-0 after their at-bat in the fourth, but Norwalk plated a pair of runs in the home half of the frame to go in front for good.

Haylie Ryan had two hits, one walk and one RBI to lead the Newton offense. She’s currently batting a team-best .429 and has a team-best .600 on-base percentage.

Mack Sims and Chloe Swank had the other two hits. Sims doubled, Hailey Sumpter walked, Viana Vasseau was hit by a pitch and Jacy Linahon scored the Cardinals’ run. Newton did strike out 12 times at the plate.

Sumpter (5-3) pitched all six innings and took the loss for Newton. She allowed two runs — one earned — on four hits and had three strikeouts, four walks and one hit batter.

Addi Downe led Norwalk (5-0, 3-0) with a double and one walk. Maddie Gullion collected one hit and scored one run, Jada Livingston finished with two walks and one RBI and Zadie Wendle and Olivia Dougherty combined to strike out 12 in seven innings.

Wendle pitched five innings and earned the win, while Doughtery tossed the final two frames and picked up the save.

Cardinals split two at Oskaloosa Classic

OSKALOOSA — Sims and Sumpter belted home runs during the Oskaloosa Classic on Saturday and the Cardinals were 1-1 on the day.

Newton nearly knocked off a ranked foe for the second straight day, but 3A No. 9 Albia edged the Cardinals in extra innings. Newton bounced back to shut out North Mahaska later in the day.

Albia rallied from an early hole, forced extra innings and downed the Cardinals 4-3 in eight after scoring three of their four runs in the final two frames.

A five-run fourth inning led the Cardinals to an 8-0 win over North Mahaska. Sumpter led the offense in that one with her first career varsity homer.

“We went up 2-0 early against Albia but then went flat and had five straight three up, three down innings,” Leiker said. “Our defense was solid in both games until the final inning against North Mahaska. We lost our focus with two errors but were able to get out of it.”

Newton scored twice in the first inning against Albia (7-1) and led 2-0 until the Blue Demons scored once in the fifth and once in the seventh to force extras. Albia outscored Newton 2-1 in the eighth.

Sims belted her second homer of the season and finished with two hits and one RBI. Swank, Ryan and Peyton Durr had the other hits.

Swank doubled, Ryan and Swank each tallied one RBI, Durr walked once and Ryan and Sumpter both were hit by a pitch. Linahon and Katelyn Lambert each scored one run.

Sumpter pitched into the eighth inning. She allowed four runs — three earned — on four hits and struck out six, walked zero and hit two batters in 7 1/3 innings.

Sydney Hoskins led Albia with two hits, Aliya Myers finished with one hit and two walks and Addison Halstead struck out seven and allowed two earned runs over eight innings in the circle.

“When you see you can compete against these top teams, the belief becomes a reality,” Leiker said.

The Cardinals had an 11-4 advantage in hits against North Mahaska, and the Warhawks (4-4) committed two errors. They led 2-0 after two and 7-0 after four.

Sumpter, Sims, Swank and Durr all had two hits to lead Newton. Sumpter hammered her first career homer and finished with two RBIs, Sims scored one run, stole one base and had two RBIs and Swank registered two runs and two RBIs.

Durr doubled, scored one run and had one RBI, Kadance Ahn finished with one hit, one RBI and two steals and Brodersen doubled and scored one run. The Oskaloosa tournament was the season debut for Ahn.

Lambert had one hit, two runs and one steal and she was hit by a pitch, Ryan drew two walks, Vasseau walked once and Paige Benson swiped one base.

Sumpter earned the win in the circle after allowing no earned runs on four hits with six strikeouts, no walks and two hit batters.

“We are starting to find our identity,” Leiker said. “We are a young team with people playing different positions. Once the girls get these games under their belts, there will not be a team that will want to see us come to town.”