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Sigourney blisters Southeast Warren, will play Friday for the Class 1A state softball title
Savages play errorless defense, and Josephine Moore and Erin Dawson deliver key blows
Jul. 24, 2024 11:59 pm, Updated: Jul. 25, 2024 9:40 am
FORT DODGE — If you thought the Sigourney High School softball program was a one-trick pony, Wednesday was indisputable evidence to the contrary.
Josephine Moore broke the game open with a two-run home run, Erin Dawson added a two-run double and sixth-ranked Sigourney played errorless defense behind Carly Goodwin.
The result was a convincing 6-1 victory over No. 7 Southeast Warren in a Class 1A state semifinal at at the Rogers Sports Complex.
“This is awesome,” said Goodwin, who fashioned a two-hitter, striking out eight and walking an uncustomary three. “We’ve never gotten this far.”
How far? The Savages will go the distance. They’ll play in the final game of the final day of the season.
Sigourney (25-7) faces No. 1 Martensdale-St. Marys (30-6), with the 1A championship on the line, at 7:30 Friday night.
“It means a lot,” Moore said. “We want to go out and take it.”
Southeast Warren (24-3) had more success than most in making contact — some of it hard contact — against Goodwin (23-2). With just eight Ks, that meant the Savages needed to make 13 plays in the field.
They made them all, without a hitch.
“We’ve had a few errors this season, but we’ve learned from our mistakes,” Dawson said.
Speaking of mistakes ... pitching to Moore with a base open in a game that was still close, that was trouble waiting to happen.
Sigourney led 1-0 after four innings, then Goodwin doubled to lead off the bottom of the fifth.
Moore followed with her 11th home run of the season, on a 1-1 count.
“Carly did a good job getting that leadoff hit, and as a No. 4 hitter, it’s my job to get runs in,” Moore said.
That made it 3-0, an error tallied another, and a four-run deficit against Goodwin is too steep of a hill to climb, for just about anybody.
Southeast Warren got one run back in the top of the sixth, then Dawson’s two-run double more than canceled that out.
“I struggled in my first two at-bats,” Dawson said. “I got it in my head, ‘I am going to hit the ball, and it is going to go far. It’s not going to be a little puddler around second base.”
Sigourney got on the board in the bottom of the first. Ava Fisch led off with a single, then eventually scored on Moore’s sacrifice fly.
So it’s Sigourney vs. Martensdale-St. Marys, Goodwin vs. Campbell German.
Rick Springfield won’t be the only show in town Friday night.
Sigourney 6, Southeast Warren 1
Class 1A State Semifinal, at Fort Dodge
Southeast Warren 000 001 0 — 1 2 4
Sigourney 100 032 x — 6 8 0
Kaylyn Holmes and Jaycee Neer. Carly Goodwin and Josephine Moore. W — Goodwin (23-2). L — Holmes (19-3). HR — SIG: Moore (11).
Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com
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