Lions claim battle of Marion

MARION - The rain held off long enough to get the game in. It was a steady shower of singles by the Linn-Mar Lions that swamped the Marion Indians.

Nine different players collected at least one hit, and the Lions erupted for eight runs in the top of the third inning of a 13-1 non-conference, intracity softball rout Friday night at the Les Hipple Athletic Complex.

'Sometimes it takes some time to adjust to a pitcher that is a little slower, but once we got our stroke down, we were on it,” said Linn-Mar Coach John Begley.

Unlike last year, when Linn-Mar's identity was the Sommer twins (now at Wartburg College), this year's team appears to be a balanced bunch.

The Lions have outscored their first three opponents by a margin of 37-3.

'We definitely have a lot of potential,” said pitcher Maddy Ryan. 'We are meshing well as a team. It should be a very good year for us.”

Friday's game was moved up 90 minutes because of a threatening forecast. Linn-Mar (3-0) went down in order in the first inning, then took advantage of a pair of Marion errors to score two unearned runs in the second.

Then came the third-inning avalanche, in which 14 batters marched to the plate and eight collected hits. There were no multi-RBI hits, just a train of productive at-bats and a parade of runs.

Morgan Braughton, Katie Andersen, Elison Ollinger, Arianna Rolle, Ryan and Christina Lincoln all swatted RBI singles in the third.

Elly Schuemann rapped an RBI double and Ryan added a run-scoring sacrifice fly in the fourth.

Marion (0-2) played five eighth-graders, four of which started. One of them, Sydney Nielsen, hit her first varsity home run, a solo shot in the bottom of the fourth.

LINN-MAR 13, MARION 1 (4 innings)

At Marion

Linn-Mar 028 3 - 13 10 1

Marion 000 1 - 1 5 3

Maddy Ryan and Christina Lincoln. Leah Kray, Livvy Draves (3) and Sydney Nielsen. W - Ryan (2-0). L - Kray (0-2). HR - MAR: Sydney Nielsen (1).

l Comments: (319) 368-8857; jeff.linder@thegazette.com