Jordyn Beck’s 5-inning perfect game leads Linn-Mar to a sweep

CEDAR RAPIDS — Tuesday’s scores won’t indicate it, but Cedar Rapids Washington is better, without a doubt.

However, “better” can’t compete with “perfect.”

Jordyn Beck pitched a five-inning perfect game in the opener, and Class 4A fourth-ranked Linn-Mar swept Washington, 12-0 and 16-0, in a Mississippi Valley Conference softball doubleheader at Franklin Field.

“I was good, loose and fresh,” said Beck, a senior who will pitch at Indian Hills Community College next season. “I just tried to get it in there. I had the defense to back me up.”

Beck (3-0) struck out seven, and the Lions (8-3 overall, 7-1 MVC) scored in all five innings of the first game, all three innings of Game 2.

In Game 1, Linn-Mar tallied three in both of the first two innings, two apiece in the next three.

The Lions got their three first-inning runs without the benefit of a hit. After a pair of walks, Emily Koranda knocked in a run with a groundout, then Grace McCarty plated another with a sacrifice fly.

McCarty drove in three runs. Koranda scored twice and drove in two more.

Washington (2-7, 2-4) is a growing program, and though the Warriors committed five errors, they made most of the routine plays and pulled off a double play.

The Warriors were aggressive at the plate, and Beck used that to her benefit.

“The riseball, inside, mostly” was how she earned the majority of her strikeouts, she said.

Game 2 lasted just three innings, and the Lions erased any doubt with nine tallies — on seven hits — in the first inning.

Koranda (4-1) held the Warriors to two hits, and hit her second home run of the season, a two-run blast in the third inning, as a rain shower began to intensify.

Linn-Mar 12-16, Cedar Rapids Washington 0-0

At Franklin Field

Game 1

Linn-Mar 332 22 --12 8 0

C.R. Washington 000 00 — 0 0 5

Jordyn Beck and Madi Wells. Gabby Wickham and Janaya Dobbs. W — Beck (3-0). L — Wickham (0-2).

Game 2

Linn-Mar 943 — 16 15 0

C.R. Washington 000 — 0 2 2

Emily Koranda and Madi Wells. Kiaya Fortner, Gabby Wickham (1) and Leah Mann. W — Koranda (4-1). L — Fortner (0-1). HR — LM: Koranda (2).

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com