Rams’ season ends in regional semifinals

NORWALK - It was too much Taylor Good and too little offense for Glenwood in its Class 4, Region 7 semifinal on Saturday.

Norwalk’s sophomore pitcher limited Glenwood to three singles, fanned nine and faced just four over the minimum in a 5-0 victory that ended the Rams’ season.

“She was tough,” Glenwood coach Mark Starner said. “We only saw about five pitchers like her all year. We don’t see enough pitchers like her. She was tough on us all night.”

After two innings of scoreless softball the Warriors got on the board with a three-run third inning. Norwalk added two more insurance runs in the sixth. Two of the Warriors’ five runs came via Glenwood errors.

Glenwood finished with just three hits – a pair of slap singles by Sara Ingoldsby and a sharp single by Lisa Nebel that ended in an out when the senior attempted to stretch the hit into a double.

“I’m proud of our girls and it stinks to lose like this but I think the better team probably won. We didn’t hit it well enough,” Starner said.

Nebel matched Good nearly pitch for pitch despite a leg injury that has limited her to four innings of work in the last 10 days. The senior threw a complete game, scattered eight hits and struck out two.

“I thought Lisa did a tremendous job with her leg injury,” Starner said. “She went the whole way and scattered a few hits. They only scored in two innings.”

Glenwood wraps up its season with a record of 22-11. The win total and the ending to the season wasn’t what Starner hoped for, but the coach is proud of his team’s efforts this season.

“We felt like we would have a better record than that but we lost about six games due to weather (cancellations),” Starner said. “We had some big wins throughout the year and some disappointing losses that could have gone either way but 22 wins is good. It’s not what we expected but it’s the reality.”

Glenwood 6,
Lewis Central 1

In two previous match ups with Hawkeye 10 Conference rival Council Bluffs Lewis Central, Glenwood managed just one run in a pair of close losses.

In the Class 4A, Region 7 opening round meeting with the Titans Thursday, the Rams matched that run total in the first inning.

The difference between those previous games and this game was simple, said Glenwood coach Mark Starner after the game.

“We hit the ball and we put the ball in play,” Starner said. “We hit the ball okay the first two times we played them, we just didn’t hit when we had people on.”

Glenwood smacked 14 hits, did not commit an error and got three hitless innings of relief from Jacy Embray in a 6-1 victory over the Titans Thursday.

“We’ve been hitting the ball pretty well lately but the first time we faced them we didn’t,” Embray said. “We stranded 18 runners in those two games. I know we stranded some runners tonight but for the most part we hit them in when we had the chance.”

The Rams’ Sara Ingoldsby led off the game with a triple and later came in to score on a Lisa Nebel single in the top of the first inning. Glenwood had three hits in the frame and, more importantly, the momentum they didn’t seize in the first two games.

“Sara is tough, she’s second in the conference batting average. It’s great to get her started right away because it helps our other batters know if they put the ball in play they can get her in,” Starner said. “It was good for us to score right away, especially getting just one run last time. That first one was big.”

The Rams added a run in the second on an Ingoldsby single and led 2-0 before the Titans managed to squeeze a run across against Nebel. But that would be it for Lewis Central as they would be held hitless over the final four innings.

Glenwood plated another run in the fourth and two more in the fifth off an RBI double by Bailey Starner and a bloop single by Molly Dean that then scored Starner. Embray launched a home run off the left-centerfield scoreboard in the seventh for an insurance run.

“She (LC starter Alli Wolf) left some over the plate and Jacy had that bomb in the seventh but collectively, we had a heck of day hitting the ball. We scored in all but two innings so it was slow and steady,” Starner said.

Nursing his lead in the fifth inning, Starner called on Embray to take over for Nebel in the circle. Nebel, in her first action in over a week after suffering a groin injury, was efficient if not dominant through four innings allowing just three hits and fanning two.

“I asked her coming in could she get us through three (innings) and she said she could and she got us through four, which was great. Then Jacy came in and finished up. Jacy has done a tremendous job for us the last week on the mound. And we made some great defensive plays. This was a great defensive effort all around.”

Embray faced just one over the minimum, struck out three and did not allow a hit in her three innings of relief work. The junior also helped her own cause going 3-for-4 at the plate with a double and an RBI.

“Jacy has been there for us. When Lisa went down, we needed her to carry the load for us and get through this last week and she’s done just a tremendous job tonight and the last week and a half.”