Beavers Rally In Quarterfinal Game Falls Short

By Ryan Stonebraker
Sports Editor

  FORT DODGE — An intriguing first round match-up in the 2018 class 2A state quarterfinals between two teams that had faced in the regular season, went to the top-seed in thie year’s tournament, the Louisa-Muscatine Falcons. The Falcons beat Wilton, 3-2 in the first round to advance to the semifinals. The game was a matchup between two of the top hitting teams in class 2A. It didn’t turn out that way, instead turning into a pitching matchup.

  “It’s a different experience here at state. Our defense came to play today, out bats struggled and that was it,” said Wilton head coach Kortney Denkman.

  “We played through the nerves early. They had a big hit early. We were confident, we have been down before and have come back. These girls know they can play ball and compete and we’ll come back tomorrow and try to get a win,” said Denkman.

  Wilton went with freshman Mila Johnson while Louisa-Muscatine threw junior Isabelle True. Johnson was pulled after four innings. She gave up three runs on five hits and walked three Falcon batters. Chloe Wells threw the final two innings in relief and did not allow a hit or run.

  True cruised on the other side of the pitching matchup. True struck out 16 Wilton batters and set a new 7-inning strikeout record for class 2A. Wilton, who had not had a strikeout looking in the postseason, saw the 3-game streak end in the top of the second when True struck out Taylor Garvin looking. The Beaves kept the game close despite the strikeouts, only being retired in order in one of the seven innings and seeing True walk six Wilton batters in the game. True needed 121 pitches to get past the Beavers.

  Louisa-Muscatine has been steadily improving over the past five years. From a winless team in 2011 and 10-win team in 2014, the Falcons have increased their win total each of the last three seasons from 26 in 2016 to 27 last season and 35 and counting heading to this year’s state tournament.

  Wilton fell to the consolation side of the class 2A bracket with the loss. The Beavers had three hits in the game. Mallory Lange was 2-for-3 with a double, RBI and stolen base to lead Wilton’s offense. Kortney Drake had the other Wilton hit. Chloe Wells had a RBI, stolen base and run scored. Lexi Maurer and Payton Ganzer each drew walks.

  The Falcons had five hits in the game. Maddie Mashek led Louisa-Muscatine, going 2-for-3 from the seventh spot in the batting order. Katie Hearn, True and McKenna Hohenadel each had hits. The Beavers held two of the top hitters in the Southeast Iowa Super Conference North Division to no hits. Kylee Sanders, the Falcons lead off hitter, was 0-for-2 after batting .490 with a .546 on-base percentage and 71 hits this year. Also held down was the Falcons number three hitter, Katie Koppe who was 6th in the SEISC North with a .412 average and 54 hits.

  The game couldn’t have started better for the Beavers. Two batters up, two outs. The mood was still upbeat when Katie Koppe drew a walk from Johnson. Then, Johnson’s counterpart True, drilled a two-run home run giving the Falcons an early 2-0 lead.

  Wilton rallied after having trouble solving True, in the fourth, scoring the first of their two runs in the game. True struck out eight Beavers through three innings. In the fourth, Chloe Wells was intentionally walked to lead off the inning Wells advanced to third on Falcon errors and scored on a RBI groundout by Mallory Lange to trim the Falcons lead to 2-1.

  In the bottom of the inning the Falcons responded. The Falcons would not advance a runner past first base until the bottom of the fourth inning. There, Louisa-Muscatine inning started when True walked and took second on a wild pitch. She would score on a hit by Hailey Sanders that was misplaced by Wilton to set the score at 3-1 after four innings.

  Wilton extended their rally in the top of the fifth, sending seven batters to the plate. Alexis Maurer led off with a walk and moved to second on a walk to Payton Ganzer. True got Karlie Schult on a strike out for the first out. The runners moved up a base to load the bases on a Kortney Drake single, bringing up Wells. Having already issued a free pass to her in two previous at-bats, the Falcons had to pitch to her. Wells, patient at the plate, was issue a traditional walk on five pitches to plate a run, making the score 3-2 and draw Wilton to within one run. Isabelle True then got Emily Coss and Taylor Garvin out by strikeout to end the threat.

  Wilton got something going in the top of the sixth inning. Mallory Lange led off with a double over the Falcons outfield defense. Lange would get to third on a groundout. However, the Falcons buckled down and Wilton got outs from their next three batters, stranding Lange at third base.

  Wilton gained a little bump in momentum after navigating the bottom of the sixth inning. The Falcons advanced runners to first and second base with two outs, but did not plate a run. In the top of the seventh, two quick outs didn’t help. Still trailing by one run, Louisa-Muscatine intentionally walked Wells for the third time in the game to put the tying run on base. True then ended the game with her 16th strikeout.

  Maddie Mashek, who returned to the line up after missing 21 games due to an injury suffered in a 6-0 home win over Winfield-Mt. Union, collected two of the Falcons hits and said her team was a little nervous in the beginning.

  It was great. We had some jitters early. Isabelle’s home run kind of calmed us down and gave us the belief that ‘yeah, we belong here’,” said Mashek. Mashek added her .381 batting average to the Falcons lineup against the Beavers.

  “Getting to state a big deal for our community, no one has ever gotten her. We got out of some big situations. Wilton tested us and did a good job of getting runners on base, but we got out of it,” she said.

  Wilton just couldn’t get a timely hit in the game, leaving runners in scoring position in five of the seven innings of play, three of those at third base as the Beavers left seven base runners on base in the game.

  "Chloe is the spark in the lineup, so when teams do that (intentionally walk her), our other girls need to step up, and today they weren't putting the bat on the ball like we have in games past," Denkman said.

  Louisa-Muscatine coach Bryan Butler said that Wells is a great hitter and he didn’t want her to be the one to beat his team.

  “We respect (Wells) and know her very well,” Louisa-Muscatine coach Bryan Butler said. “She’s a great hitter and with one swing of the bat, she can change the game. We know that,” he said.

  Wells said that it was a frustrating game.

  “It was frustrating, very, very frustrating to not hit any pitches,” said Wells. “This isn’t it, which is good. It was a privilege to play on this field. We worked really hard to get here. We are going to come back and play better. We didn’t play our best today, but we have another game tomorrow,” she said.

  Eighth-grader Mallory Lange collected two of Wilton's three hits, including a leadoff double to start the sixth inning.

  “It was a big hit, I was just trying to get something going. As a team, we got a lot of at-bats, but not the number of hits we are used to. It was a strange game,” said Lange.

  Denkman said that her team will regroup and that they get to at least play another game before returning home.

  "This is a completely different stage for the girls to play on," Denkman said. "None of them have been in this state atmosphere for anything. For them to come here and kind of absorb it, but then also know that we can compete with these best teams, I think that says a lot for Eastern Iowa, that we have two tough teams, a one-run ball game and are within 20 minutes of each other."

  The Beavers advanced to the state tournament with three wins over Cascade, No. 14 Jesup and against Bellevue in the Regional Final game. The Falcons beat Danville, Wapello and No. 13 East Marshall to reach state.