Belle Plaine softball gets one good opportunity, and takes advantage

BELLE PLAINE — How do you beat a dominant pitcher?

“Hang in there, I told them,” Belle Plaine softball coach Todd Bohlen said. “Hang in there.”

Hope for an opening. Wait for an opportunity. Don’t get too far behind.

In the fifth inning, opportunity knocked. And the Plainsmen answered.

Piecing together a pair of hits and capitalizing on a pair of errors, Belle Plaine scored three unearned runs and upset Class 1A seventh-ranked Sigourney, 3-2, in a South Iowa Cedar League showdown Wednesday night at Belle Plaine High School.

“This is a big accomplishment,” Plainsmen senior pitcher Breanna Cook said. “We haven’t beaten them since I’ve been here.”

Despite getting out-hit by a 9-2 margin and striking out 14 times against Sigourney sophomore ace Carly Goodwin, Belle Plaine (6-1 overall, 5-0 SICL) moved into sole possession of first place in the conference.

The rematch is June 27 at Sigourney.

Goodwin cruised through the first four innings, retiring 12 of the first 13 batters she faced — and the one that reached was on a strikeout and wild pitch.

Trailing 2-0 heading into the fifth, the Plainsmen got their chance. Cook reached on an error to start it off.

“That was important. It showed we could make contact and that (Goodwin) wasn’t indestructible,” Cook said.

“We had to make adjustments,” Bohlen said. “When (Goodwin) is throwing the rise, you want to swing like you’re going to miss on top of it.”

And hang in there, hang in there.

A single by Abby Sieck broke up the no-hitter. Another single by Alivia Haack scored a run.

Kady Parizek’s groundout tied the game, then another error put the Plainsmen ahead to stay.

Then it was a matter of holding off the Savages (5-1, 4-1), who entered the game hitting .496 and scoring 13 runs per game.

“It’s a matter of having faith,” Cook said. “We had to have a lot of confidence. We were really pumped up.”

Sigourney’s Ava Fisch was 3-for-4. She scored on Madi Richard’s single in the third inning, then drove in Erin Dawson in the fourth.

But the Savages stranded eight baserunners, six in scoring position.

Belle Plaine 3, Sigourney 2

AT BELLE PLAINE

Sigourney 001 100 0 — 2 9 2

Belle Plaine 000 030 x — 3 2 1

Carly Goodwin and Josephine Moore. Breanna Cook and Kiley Alcott. W — Cook (6-0). L — Goodwin (5-1).

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com