Solon downs Mount Vernon, advances to state

Solon's Arran Weeces (4) pitches against Mount Vernon in their regional softball game Wednesday at Solon. Weeces struck out 14 in a 7-2 win. (Liz Martin/SourceMedia Group News)

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SOLON -- Arran Weeces lost count once.

But she never lost command, control or composure.

Weeces struck out 14 batters in a three-hit masterpiece as fourth-ranked Solon downed No. 13 Mount Vernon, 7-2, in a Class 3A softball regional final Wednesday night.

The Lady Spartans (34-7) scored three times in the first inning and advanced to the state tournament for the first time since 2008. They will face No. 5 Winterset (30-10) in a quarterfinal at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Rogers Sports Complex near Fort Dodge.

Winterset outlasted No. 10 Creston, 2-0, in 10 innings.

"This hasn't sunk in yet," said first-year coach Ben Sorden. "I don't know if I've ever seen a group of girls as focused as this group has been all week.

"They come out hard, they laugh and have fun."

They were able to chuckle in the top of the third inning, when Weeces and catcher Rachel Stewart trotted toward the dugout after one of Weeces' strikeouts. Trouble was, it was only the second out of the inning.

"It was kind of embarrassing," Weeces said, who came back out and struck out the next batter anyway.

It was Weeces' third straight 14-K postseason encounter.

"I knew we could do this," she said. "I have all my faith in the defense and the catcher. And (the three early runs) helped me relax. It gave me a cushion to work with."

This wasn't the script the Mustangs (34-7) had envisioned. They had hoped to send Coach Gary Stamp -- diagnosed in March with lung cancer -- to Fort Dodge for the third straight year.

"Life's a journey, and softball's a journey," Stamp said after departing an extremely emotional huddle. "It's going to hurt tomorrow, and the next day, and next week ... but this season has been a joyous ride."

Weeces was dominant from the start, fanning eight of the first 10 batters she faced. And she got more-than-adequate run support.

It started with two outs in the bottom of the first, when Ali Herdliska, Kara Misel, Casey Musgrave and Mel Breza collected four consecutive singles. That, plus a passed ball and an error, translated into three runs.

An RBI groundout by Emily Bransky made it 4-0 in the second.

The Lady Spartans got production from everybody in the lineup. Eight Solon players had at least one hit (Misel and Breza had two apiece) and the one that didn't -- Alyssa Rickels -- drove in a run with a groundout to the right side of the infield.

"We're all pretty consistent," Sorden said. "When one starts hitting, they all start hitting."

Mount Vernon didn't have a hit until the fourth inning. Kari Martin walloped a solo home run in the top of the sixth to bring the Mustangs within 6-2.

AT SOLON

Mount Vernon      000 101 0 -- 2   3  1

Solon                         310 021 x -- 7  10  1

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