Another great day in May for Biery

MARION -- Another Friday, another glorious May day for Alyssa Biery.

Seven days after winning a shot-put championship at the state track meet, Biery drove in a pair of runs, and Marion held off Linn-Mar, 6-4, in a non-conference softball game Friday night at Linn-Mar.

"We're already so much better than we were last year," Biery said. "We have a lot more experience."

Biery is the only senior for the Indians (3-0), who already are halfway to matching their win total from a year ago, when they suffered through a 6-32 campaign.

"I couldn't be happier," said Indians Coach Kim Knapp. "We worked hard all winter. We've got kids who want to play and learn the game."

Marion led from the outset, built a 6-2 advantage when it pieced together four straight two-out hits in the top of the fourth, then held on.

Biery capped that fourth-inning rally, doubling home Beth Knapp. She opened the scoring with a first-inning single to chase home Lauren Rausch.

Monday was Biery's first day at softball practice.

"I'd been through a lot of the winter workouts, though," she said. "There are a lot of little things I need to work on."

The difference, ultimately, was a pair of unearned Marion runs in the top of the second. Two errors allowed Marion to take a 3-0 lead.

"I'm very optimistic about our team, especially our defense," said Linn-Mar Coach Jon Harms, whose team slipped to 2-1. "Tonight, we just didn't play as well defensively as we had been. We can't afford to give teams six outs in an inning.

"Give them credit. They took advantage."

Lindsey Harms and eighth-grader Maggie Rizor had three hits apiece for Linn-Mar.

Marion .....................120 300 0 -- 6   9  2

Linn-Mar...................002 010 1 -- 4  10  4

Mikayla Goemaat and Paige Perkins. Dionna Jensen, Lindsey Harms (4) and Hilary Van Praag.