The Sigourney Savages have put together a stellar softball season, but they still have big goals on the horizon. One of the last ones is reaching the state tournament, and Sigourney is one win away as they prepare to face Twin Cedars in the Class 1A Region 8 final tonight, a game you can hear on KCII. Sigourney is 25-4 and ranked eighth in the state in 1A, and the Savages might be playing their best right now, as they’ve won nine straight games coming into tonight, all by shutout.
A big reason for that defensive success is Carly Goodwin, one of the state’s most dominant pitchers. The junior has a minuscule 0.23 earned-run average this season, the lowest in 1A. Goodwin has given up only six total runs in 123 innings pitched and piled up a whopping 289 strikeouts in the circle, a state high.
Goodwin has also been a contributor to the Sigourney lineup. The junior has a .460 batting average with eight doubles, three home runs, 33 runs scored and 41 runs batted in. Freshman Kenzi VanDenHeuvel has put together a monster second season, hitting .469 with 13 doubles, four homers and 48 RBI.
Sophomore Josephine Moore has also provided plenty of pop, batting .519 with 13 extra-base hits and 42 runs driven in. Sophomore Ava Fisch, junior Erin Dawson and seniors Coutrney Helmsley, Macy Fisch and Rain Barthelman are all hitting over .294 as well, a big reason whey the Savages have the second-highest batting average and have scored the fifth-most runs in 1A. Head coach Shelly Streigle tels KCII Sports that success comes from having the right approach to hitting.
“We’re just really hitting the ball hard,” Streigle says. “Even if it’s right at people, it is [hit] hard. When [the players] take cuts, they take them with a purpose at practice. We don’t stand there and take a hundred of them. We limit the number they take so that each one of them has to be meaningful. And then our other coaches are doing a great job keeping [the players] in the weight room, so they are strong and working to get stronger every day, and it transfers into all of our activities.”
Sigourney knows their opponent tonight quite well. Twelfth-ranked Twin Cedars defeated the Savages in a thrilling 7-6 game in last year’s Region 8 final. The Sabers have gone 21-5 this season and have been powered by senior Rylee Dunkin’s impressive .605 batting average.
Sigourney is seeking their second trip to state in the last three years. The Savages square off with Twin Cedars for the Class 1A Region 8 championship this evening, and you can hear all the action on all KCII stations and KCIIradio.com, starting with pregame coverage at 6:30.