Ellie Flanagan finds her rhythm; North Linn tops Cascade in top-10 battle

North Linn pitcher Ellie Flanagan (13) high-fives Skylar Benesh (8) after Benesh scored the first run in a 6-2 win over Cascade in a non-conference softball game Friday at Cascade. (Savannah Blake/The Gazette)

CASCADE — It took seven pitches, and one mound visit, for Ellie Flanagan to find her groove.

North Linn’s veteran pitcher quickly shook off a wild start, and the Class 1A fifth-ranked Lynx assembled a pair of three-run innings in a 6-2 non-conference softball win over 2A No. 9 Cascade on Friday at Cascade High School.

The Lynx (3-0) struck for three runs in the top of the first, but it appeared for a couple of fleeting moments that Flanagan might give some of that early cushion back.

She walked Devin Simon on four pitches, then went 3-0 to Taryn Hoffman. Out of the dugout came Lynx Coach Chad Spore.

What was said?

“He said, ‘Just figure it out. Fix it,’” Flanagan said.

Spore confirmed Flanagan’s account.

“She said she didn’t need a rosin bag. I said, ‘OK, you better know what it takes to fix it.’”

North Linn’s Lily Rehberg (25) slides into second base as Cascade shortstop Devin Simon (20) reaches to tag her out. (Savannah Blake/The Gazette)

Flanagan got out of the second-and-third, one-out dilemma with a couple of strikeouts, and went on to whiff 11 batters in a four-hit, four-walk effort.

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“My mental approach got better,” she said. “I adjusted my vision as to where the catcher was, and my riseball got going.”

North Linn has been a regular at the state tournament lately, advancing to Fort Dodge four consecutive years. But due to graduation, plus “a group of kids that wanted their summer free,” according to Spore, only four starters are back.

They’ll be fine.

“We have five or six kids that we can put in our outfield, and our young kids are avid learners,” he said. “It’s been a really fun ride so far.”

Four hits and two errors combined for three North Linn tallies in the first inning, with Flanagan’s double and Kylie Munson’s single driving in a run apiece.

Cascade (2-2) got within 3-2 on eighth-grader Ashlyn Schockemoehl’s two-run double in the fourth, but the Lynx responded with three more runs in the fifth.

Pinch-hitter Sidney Olson, Skylar Benesh and Jersey Peyton each knocked in a run in the game-breaking rally.

The game featured two of the area’s top shortstops: Benesh was 2-for-4 and scored twice; Simon — a University of Iowa recruit — reached base twice, including a triple.