Ram softball takes two from Kuemper

The Glenwood softball team got two complete-game pitching performances and some clutch hitting in a Hawkeye 10 Conference double-header sweep of Kuemper Catholic Thursday.

The Rams (5-1 overall, 4-1 in the conference) won game one 4-1 and then rallied in game two for a 6-5 victory in extra-innings.

Game one starter Lyndie Van Ness dominated the Knights’ bats, striking out five, scattering five hits and allowing just one earned run in the compete-game victory.

“We have conversations with our pitchers all the time that we aren’t going to be the team that necessarily blows by everybody and strikes everybody out,” Stanton said. “We are going to put the ball in play and our defense is going to have to help. We’re starting to figure that out and we throw more strikes and we trust in our defense. Lyndie has definitely figured that out. She knows she’s going to get those strikeouts throughout the season but for the most part, teams are going to hit and that’s where our defense comes in.”

The Rams blew open a 1-1 game in the bottom of the fifth with three runs – two coming on Knight errors. Sara Ingoldsby got the rally started with a single and then moved to third on Myranda Starner’s double. Back-to-back Knight errors scored both Ingoldsby and Starner.

“The girls made them make plays,” Stanton said. “I tell the girls all the time about making plays and eventually the other team is going to make mistakes and we’ll take advantage. And that’s sort of what happened. We stayed aggressive on the bases.”

Starner led the Rams with three hits in the game one win.

Sydney Biermann was the hero of game two. The freshman threw all eight innings in the nightcap, allowing six hits and fanning nine, and her bases loaded sacrifice fly in the bottom of the eighth drove in the winning run.

The Rams rallied from a two run deficit and some unfortunate errors on defense in the win.

“We had some error moments with a couple of dropped pop flys but the girls really came back from that and that was good to see,” Stanton said. “It was good to see we can have an error and we’re not going to lay down when that happens.”

Trailing 5-4 heading into the bottom of the eighth, the Rams led off the inning with a single by Starner and Van Ness drawing a walk. Brooklyn Taylor then singled to score Starner. Emma Ringsdorf then drew a walk to load the bases to set the plate for Biermann.

“I pulled Syd aside, because she’s one who can hit a home run any time. She’s a big strong kid. And I told her to take a breather and the home run doesn’t matter, it’s the base hit that matters. I think she understood that going in and she drove a deep ball to the outfield, the girl caught it, and we were able to score a run and win the ball game.”

Erin Stanley was 3-for-3 in game two and Ingoldsby had two hits and drove in a run.

Glenwood 10,

C.B. Abraham Lincoln 2

The Glenwood softball team smacked 13 hits and took advantage of six Council Bluffs Abraham Lincoln errors in a 10-2 victory last Tuesday in Council Bluffs.

The Rams trailed 2-1 heading into the fifth when their bats came alive – and the Lynx defense came apart.

“We kept putting the ball in play,” said Glenwood coach Kylie Stanton. “You put the ball in play that much teams are going to make errors. And sure enough, we had five hits and they had six errors and we were able to put up eight runs in that inning.”

Brielle Smith smacked her first home run of the season in the seventh inning.

Pitcher Lyndie Van Ness scattered four hits in the complete game victory.