Solon, Marion battle to Wamac softball doubleheader split

MARION — Life is difficult in the Wamac. In a conference with six ranked softball teams, momentum can be a fleeting thing.

Two of those ranked teams squared off in an effort to seize some of that momentum. The Solon Spartans and Marion Indians had to settle for a draw. Marion took the opener, 8-3, while the Spartans battled back to claim the nightcap Wednesday night, 7-1.

Both came in weary from the league gauntlet, with Class 4A 10th-ranked Marion entering the night having lost four straight. Class 3A 10th-ranked Solon came in after dropping four of five.

“Oh, it’s tough,” Marion coach Scott Fruehling said. “Top to bottom, I don’t know if there’s a tougher league in the state. When you look at Williamsburg, Mount Vernon, Benton, us this year, Solon, it’s an extremely tough league. Night in and night out, gotta be able to play your best.”

The Indians (22-11) snapped their skid by jumping on top early. Leah Fruehling and Gracie Goad reached base on first-inning singles. Cleanup hitter Peyton Steffen brought them home with a three-run shot over the center field wall.

The Spartans (22-10) answered with a three-run rally of their own in the top of the third, but the Indians responded immediately in the bottom half when Steffen added an RBI single. Marion tacked on more runs in the fifth and sixth to cruise.

The Spartans flipped the script in the nightcap. Hilary Wilson went 4-for-4 with three runs scored, coming a home run shy of the cycle. A Wilson RBI double opened the scoring in the top of the third. Camryn Keith plated Wilson with a single and later came around to score herself as the Spartans seized a three-run lead.

“Our energy overall was just so much better,” Keith said of Game 2. “We wanted to get up and cheer for each other. Our attitudes were there and we just really wanted to win that game.”

In the top of the seventh, Keith left no doubt. Leading 5-1, Keith attempted to move Wilson over with a bunt. After a pair of failed attempts, Keith launched her own home run to center.

“I was so glad,” Keith said of the missed bunt attempts. “If I hadn’t fouled them off, that would’ve just been another bunt.”

Eighth-grader Izzy Frees picked up the win for Solon, going the distance while limiting the Indians to five hits.

Both teams have now wrapped up conference play and will spend the next week tuning up against non-conference foes in preparation for regionals.

“We’ve got some good pieces,” Coach Fruehling said. “If we put it all together we can be a good softball team. We’ve got a week before we get into regionals. If we get a little momentum I think we can make a deep run.”