NICL East softball: Cougars sweep Huskies

“We did pretty good. We finished well and played as a team,” freshman Isabel Bernard said.

Asked if having an unexpected day off Saturday, which was the second day of the North Fayette Valley tournament washed out by rain, helped, Bernard concurred.

The Cougars played five games in four days.

“I think we just played a lot of ball last week and we were just a little burnt out,” Bernard said. “We came back today and were ready to play.”

She finished 3 for 5 with five runs scored, four walks and an inside-the-park home run. Gracie Jones (three runs batted in) and Aubree Land (four RBI) also had three hits apiece while Jamie Jones (four RBI) and Saela Steege (homer, two RBI) each grabbed five hits.

S-F-T was without Morgan Brandt, who was away for orientation at Iowa State. Eighth-grader Addi Murray played first in the opener and Steege played first in the second game.

“I thought the girls did a good job; they battled all the way through,” head coach Kevin Bergman said. “Played with a little bit of emotion tonight. Played without Morgan tonight, and for others to step up I thought was huge for us.”

Steege and Murray combined to allow eight hits and one walk in 13 innings. They struck out eight.

Crandall, Jaylynn Craun and Emma Smock each went 2 for 6. Smock doubled and Crandall tripled. Oelwein (3-6, 2-2) has dropped four in a row, with just two runs in its last three losses.

“We need to start working harder,” head coach Bob Lape said. “We need to focus, start taking pride on our game. And we need to start getting better at playing instead of going through the motions.

“Last four games, it’s been this way. Lackadaisical. Fear of losing, fear of failure.”

Aspen Weir and Ella Schunk each threw complete games. They struck out eight.