If you’re looking for a gold standard in high school baseball and softball in southeast Iowa, look to the garnet and gold of the Sigourney Savages. Sigourney baseball wrapped last week with a 4-2 conference victory over Belle Plaine Friday, while Savage softball followed up a 16-0 victory in four innings over the Plainsmen Friday with a 5-0 win over Creston and a 13-4 defeat of Louisa-Muscatine in two games Saturday at the Oskaloosa Tournament.
The Savages held a 1-0 lead on Belle Plaine baseball until the fifth inning Friday, when the Plainsmen tied the game at one. But two runs in the bottom of the inning gave Sigourney the lead for good despite the lineup finishing with just two hits total. Senior Ty Shafranek scored twice, while junior Reid Molyneux allowed no hits over the first four-and-a-third innings pitched and struck out six to help the Savages improve to 10-1 in the South Iowa Cedar League and 12-5 overall.
Sigourney softball wasted no time getting on the scoreboard Friday by putting up three runs in the first inning, but six runs each in the second and the fourth truly put Belle Plaine away. Senior Rain Barthelman led the lineup with three hits, four runs scored and four runs batted in. Junior Erin Dawson also had three hits, including a double, and three RBI, while junior Carly Goodwin and sophomore Ava Fisch had two hits each and combined to score five runs.
The Savages did all their scoring in their first game Saturday in the first frame, and Goodwin blanked Creston while racking up 18 strikeouts and finishing one walk away from a perfect game. Sophomore Josephine Moore blasted a double and drove in two runs.
Sigourney would break open their second game Saturday in the second inning, breaking up a game tied at two with Louisa-Muscatine with seven runs in the top half. Freshman Kenzi VanDenHeuvel hit a pair of doubles and finished with three RBI, while junior Amiya Smallwood drove in four and Moore and senior Courtney Helmsely had a hit and two batted in each.
The fifth-ranked team in Class 1A softball continues to live up to the billing, now sitting at 16-2 overall and remaining undefeated in conference play. Both Sigourney teams return to the diamond tonight when they visit their rivals in Keota.