Clippers edge Winterset, earn 10th state title

FORT DODGE -- Maliah Fligg could have pouted.

Instead, she delivered.

Fligg singled to right field with one out in the eighth inning, and Mariah McKinnon beat the throw home by a whisker to give second-ranked Clear Creek Amana the Class 3A state softball championship, 3-2, over No. 5 Winterset Friday at the Rogers Sports Complex.

"I hit my hand on the plate, I looked for the call, the umpire called me safe, and I was really excited," McKinnon said.

Clear Creek Amana closed at 44-2. The Clippers won their 10th state title, their sixth under Coach Jim White.

Fligg pitched the first seven innings in a rain-interrupted game -- a deluge in the fifth inning caused a 72-minute interruption -- and was marvelous for the most part.

But she issued a wild pitch with one out in the seventh, allowing Savanna Marker to score the tying run.

McKinnon got the pitching call for the eighth, and sidestepped a leadoff double by Taylor Benshoof.

Fligg kept her head up, then did what she was told with McKinnon at second and a chance to win it.

"(White) told me to hit it up the middle or go to right field," Fligg said. "Once I got an outside pitch, I went with it.

"It's not about me when there's a runner in scoring position."

Winterset right fielder Bryce Bowman fielded the hit cleanly, then threw a strike to first baseman Marker, whose relay to the plate was just late.

"(McKinnon) just got the front corner of the plate on the way in," White said.

Mallory Madsen was the all-tournament captain after playing a role in the Clippers' first two runs.

She doubled home Tara Walls in the second inning, then hit a fly ball that was dropped, enabling Walls to score again in the fourth for a 2-0 lead.

"She's amazing; it's great for her to be recognized," teammate Fran Strub said of the diminutive freshman.

Madsen said she was surprised by the captainship.

"It's definitely an honor," she said.

Fligg didn't give up a hit until the sixth inning, but wild pitches plated both runs for Winterset (32-11).

Strub, a .600-plus hitter who struck out in each of her first three trips to the plate, tripled to lead off the eighth. She was thrown out trying to score on McKinnon's squeeze bunt.

McKinnon went to second when Caitlin Wnek singled to right, then scored -- by a fingernail -- when Fligg did the same.

"The umpire called it, then I jumped up and started crying," Madsen said.

AT FORT DODGE

Winterset                                      000 010 10 -- 2  3  2

Clear Creek Amana                 010 100 01 -- 3  6  0

One out when winning run scored.

Karly Olson (L) and Casey Mohs. Maliah Fligg, Mariah McKinnon (8, W) and Cassie Downes.

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