The #13 (1A) Clarksville softball team took sole possession of first place in the Iowa Star-North with a 5-1 home win over Don Bosco Friday.
The Dons scored their only run in the top of the first. In the bottom of the first, Hannah Wangsness hit an RBI single, followed by a Sydney Lovrien RBI groundout for a 2-1 lead. In the third, Claire Lodge hit a sacrifice fly for a 3-1 lead. In the fifth, Wangsness hit a double to drive in two more runs to complete the scoring. Head Coach Katie Burman says it was a great defensive game against one of the better offensive teams in the conference.
“I’m just really proud of them because it’s really hot and sticky out and we’re kind of at the peak of the season, you know, where we’ve been playing a lot of ball and it’s easy to kind of get monotonous,” Burman says. “We had quite a few girls at the Butler County Fair, so they were showing all day and to come here and still get a win, that’s pretty good. Just trying to make them chase up to bat, not giving them anything good because they can hit really well. We do play them a lot. I think every year we play them like four times a year. So just knowing their batters, their slappers, where they’re going to hit the ball. And they do have very good defense too. So just knowing that we have to capitalize when we can.”
Wangsness says it was a critical win.
“We knew we had to beat them, especially to be conference champs again,” Wangsness says. “So we knew we had to hold them, and also get on our bats at the same time. Definitely this year I try not to think about like striking out or popping it up. I try to just go up with confidence and tell myself that I’m going to hit the ball and I’m going to hit it hard.”
Wangsness drove in three runs to lead offensively.
Clarksville (14-7, 10-1 ISN) will host BCLUW Monday.
Hannah Wangsness interview:
Katie Burman interview:
