Carroll hands Rams loss on senior night

Carroll hurler Julia LaRue struck out eight and scattered four hits in a 4-1 victory over Glenwood to spoil senior night in Glenwood Friday.

“Compared to the first time we saw them, I felt like we walked into the box with a lot more confidence,” said Glenwood coach Kylee Stanton. “We put a lot of balls in play, it just seemed like we weren’t getting the timely hit we needed. We were hitting at people. Their pitcher threw well, harder than some (pitchers) we’ve seen and defensively they were just solid.”

The Tigers did not commit an error and took advantage of five Ram miscues to plate three of their four runs in the win. This same squad blanked the Rams 7-0 back on June 1. Stanton said her team has come light years since that early season setback but the result was the same.

The errors were just too much for Glenwood to overcome.

“They came at just the right times,” Stanton said. “A throw from shortstop goes down the line and the runner from third scores and then we have the home run ball and then a few more everyday plays we just didn’t quite make.”

Leading 1-0, Ashley Oaken smacked a solo homerun off Ram starter Sydney Biermann to make it 2-0.

The Rams (19-13 overall, 14-6) scored their lone run on a Taryn Bertini double to score Kelly Embray. But the hits would be few and far between for Glenwood as they finished with five hits. Braden Liddick recorded two hits.

Biermann struck out seven and scattered just three hits and a single earned run in the tough luck loss for the senior.

“She threw really well,” Stanton said of Biermann. “She did a phenomenal job hitting her spots. The home run ball we’re pretty sure that girls was waiting on the rise ball knowing we’d eventually throw it and she met it on the way up. What can you do? She did what we asked her to do and she hit it.”

The Rams open regional play at home Thursday against Council Bluffs Lewis Central (9-27). Glenwood swept the season series over the Titans. A win in Thursday’s opener puts the Rams into Region 4 semifinals against Dallas Center-Grimes (22-12).

“We like our draw,” Stanton said. “We don’t have to go through the same conference teams we normally do so that’s huge for us. It’s teams that don’t know us. But at the same time, we don’t know them.

“Having Lewis Central in that first game and especially at home, we have a chance to finish with a home game where we have an opponent we know and the mentality we’re better and we’re here to win. That’s huge for us going into potentially Dallas Center-Grimes Saturday.”

Glenwood 14,
Creston 5

Braden Liddick and Brielle Smith each drove in three runs for Glenwood in a 14-5 Hawkeye 10 Conference softball victory over Creston last Tuesday.

The Rams had 10 different hitters record at least one hit and finished with recorded 15 hits in all in the win. Kelly Embray led the way with a 3-for-4 night. The sophomore catcher also stole a base and scored four runs.

“We really saw the ball well,” said Glenwood coach Kylee Stanton. “We walked into the game a lot more relaxed than I’d seen us the last few games. We’d been super tense and really trying too hard instead of playing our style of ball. We walked in with confidence we knew we had this one and it made a huge difference.”

Smith, Liddick, Taryn Bertini and Brooklyn Taylor all picked up two hits each.

Sydney Biermann went 5 2/3 innings, striking out five and giving up eight hits and five earned runs in the victory. Brianna Gerhardt came on to pitch the final 2 1/3 innings.

“Syd was throwing well and she kind of reached a point where they were figuring her out and Syd acknowledged it, ‘Yep, they have me figured out coach, it’s time for a change,” Stanton said. “It was great for her to realize some days she can go the distance and some days she’s going to need a little help. Really both of our pitchers have done that all season. But Syd has thrown phenomenally lately.”

Kelly Coen took the loss in the circle for the Panthers. The eighth grader allowed eight hits and six runs (three earned).