Newton softball falls to rival Oskaloosa

OSKALOOSA — Mack Sims homered and the Cardinals did not commit an error, but the Newton softball team suffered a narrow loss to Oskaloosa on Wednesday.

The rival Indians took a two-run lead in the second inning and plated the winning run in the fifth during a 3-2 victory in Little Hawkeye Conference play.

Newton scored once in the fourth and once in the sixth, but it wasn’t enough to flip the result.

“We came up a little short tonight,” Newton head softball coach Kory Leiker said. “We had a much better outing though. The focus and the energy were on point.”

The Cardinals (3-5, 1-5 in the LHC) entered the game winners of three out of the last four in the series, but Oskaloosa has a 27-12 advantage since 2009.

The Indians out-hit Newton 10-8 and Oskaloosa committed the only two errors of the game.

Sims finished with two hits, one run, one RBI and one walk. Her second homer of the year came in the fourth.

Makenzly Brant doubled, BrookLynn Britton, Chloe Swank, Paige Benson, Sloan Brodersen and Lexi Frehse had the other hits. It was the first career varsity hit for Frehse.

Brodersen tallied one RBI, Mackenzie Cupples scored one run, Viana Vasseau walked once and Myla Sanders stole one base.

Frehse (0-3) took the loss in the circle after allowing three earned runs on 10 hits. She struck out one in four innings.

Leileigh Hammons pitched two innings and allowed no runs and one hit while striking out three.

“We cleaned up our fielding with no errors, but we need to clean up some base running,” Leiker said. “I was happy with the effort and energy we played with tonight.”

Haylee Parker led Oskaloosa (8-3, 2-2) with two hits and one steal. Aracelli Pilcher, Ireland McGraw and Kobie Criss added one hit and one RBI.

Shannon VanRheenen (3-3) struck out nine and allowed one earned run on eight hits in seven innings in the circle.