Baxter softball drops regional opener to rival GMG

GARWIN — Riah Boege had two hits at the plate and spun a no-hitter in the circle to lead the GMG softball team past Baxter on Monday.

The Wolverines led the Class 1A Region 8 first-round game 6-0 after one inning and went on to down the Bolts 10-0 in four innings.

It was GMG’s sixth straight win, but the Wolverines were eliminated, 5-3, by BCLUW on Wednesday.

GMG out-hit Baxter 10-0 and both teams committed one error.

Klaire Shanks tossed 3 2/3 innings in the circle and allowed four earned runs on seven hits, four walks and one hit batter with five strikeouts.

Blaire Jutting allowed five earned runs on one hit, three walks and two hit batters in 1/3 of an inning.

Taelyn Sash led GMG (11-10) with two hits, one run and one walk. Boege added one walk to her two hits and struck out 11 Bolts and threw a no-hitter from the circle.

North Tama 10, Baxter 9, 8 innings

TRAER — The Bolts and Redhawks completed a suspended game from June 23 on July 3 and North Tama rallied for a 10-9 win in eight innings during Iowa Star Conference play.

The Bolts led 6-4 after one inning, but the Redhawks rallied to take a 7-6 lead after four.

Baxter’s three-run fifth pushed the visitors back in front, but North Tama scored once in the sixth, seventh and eighth to rally.

Baxter out-hit the Redhawks 15-13, but the Bolts were plagued by seven errors.

The Bolts also forfeited their game against Central City on July 5. That goes down as a 7-0 loss in the scorebook.

Hannah Huffaker and Madison Jochems each had three hits to lead the offense against North Tama.

Huffaker scored one run and had two RBIs, Jochems scored one run and tallied one RBI and Emileigh Beals chipped in two hits, one double, two runs and one RBI.

Beals led Baxter (2-21) with a .313 batting average and had a team-best 12 runs and 24 total bases in her first prep season.

Klaire Shanks finished with two hits, one run and one RBI, Lillian Grunstead doubled and totaled one run and one RBI, Mallory Bottorff registered one hit, one run, two RBIs and one walk and Savannah Frasher collected one hit, one run and two walks.

Grunstead led the Bolts with six doubles this summer, while Bottorff finished with a team-most nine RBIs.

Jutting posted one hit and two walks and Avery Wonders contributed one hit and one run. Both Bolts pitched in the game, too.

Wonders (1-9) took the pitching loss after allowing seven runs — one earned — on nine hits and one walk with four strikeouts in 3 1/3 innings.

Jutting surrendered two earned runs on two hits and five walks with one strikeout in four innings.

Addison Hochstetler led North Tama (5-13) with two hits and four RBIs and spun all eight innings for the pitching win. Harper Rausch added three hits and three RBIs.