Cardinals fly past Eagles to score season sweep

Ava Williams went 5-of-13 from the plate in the first four games of the season. But she was limited to eight hits over the course of her next 35 at-bats and dropped below .300 for the season.

After Friday night’s monster night at the plate, the Cardinal sophomore hopes she’s starting to get back on track.

Williams had a season-high three hits against Pella Christian and her first career varsity home runs powered the Newton softball team to a 12-2 home win over the Eagles during Little Hawkeye Conference play.

“I was just trying to get out that slump some how,” Williams said. “I threw my bat at the ball and felt it as soon as I made contact.”

Williams’ first dinger was a 2-run, no-doubt, opposite-field shot to left-center field. It put the Cardinals in front 4-0.

Her one-out solo shot in the fourth was pulled over the fence in right field. She wasn’t quite sure that one was going to clear the fence.

“That first one felt pretty good. The second one I thought was either foul or going to hit the fence,” Williams said. “I’m glad our team is getting back to hitting the ball. It feels good for everyone.”

Newton (12-10, 5-8 in the conference) moved back above .500 for the season thanks to 13 hits. The Cardinals were awarded the doubleheader sweep after the Eagles forfeited the first varsity game due to not enough healthy players.

The two runs Pella Christian scored were unearned and they came off the one error the Cardinals committed.

A relatively slow start turned into a five-inning win after the Cardinals plated three in the fourth and five in the fifth.

“I think we came out flat and maybe that’s because we beat them 17-0 the first time we played them,” Newton head softball coach Kory Leiker said. “I think they thought this was going to be a stat game, but that’s why you play the game.”

Mack Sims opened the game with a double that could have been ruled an error as the center fielder misplayed the ball near the fence.

With two outs, Hailey Sumpter drilled a 1-1 pitch between the shortstop and third basemen to open the scoring.

Paige Benson’s first hit of the game was an RBI single back up the middle.

Emerson Ray, who was in the game as Sumpter’s courtesy runner, took second and third on wild pitches and then scored on Benson’s hit.

Peyton Durr opened the second with a lead-off single that was called fair near the line in left field. Williams made it 4-0 with her first career varsity dinger.

“She was slumping a little bit and was maybe in her own head,” Leiker said about Williams. “She’s had some trials, but she’s stuck with it and is getting better. She had three hits and any positivity can break you out of a slump.”

Chloe Nikkel opened Pella Christian’s third inning by reaching on an error and then stealing second. Mya Huisman’s infield single put two runners on base and then a bunt single by Rachel Kacmarynski loaded the bases.

Faith Kacmarynski’s RBI sacrifice fly put the Eagles on the board and then Brynn Roozeboom’s RBI single made it 4-2.

Newton starting pitcher Hailey Sumpter got out of the jam with an inning-ending strikeout.

Sumpter had 1-2-3 innings in the first and second and faced the minimum three batters in the fourth.

Huisman and Faith Kacmarynski both singled in the fifth, but Sumpter and the Newton defense got out of the inning without any damage.

In the fourth, Williams clubbed her second homer with one out. Sims then singled with two outs and scored after Sloan Brodersen reached on an error. Chloe Swank’s RBI double made it 7-2.

The five-run fifth included RBI singles by Williams and Viana Vasseau and an RBI double from Sims that ended the game.

“I can’t say that I’m unhappy with the win. There’s a lot things we need to clean up though,” Leiker said. “Our base running was off tonight and we went up there early trying to hit home runs instead of just squaring up the ball.”

Sims finished with three hits, two doubles, two runs and one RBI. She leads the Cardinals with a .426 batting average and a .530 on-base percentage. She’s also scored a team-best 33 runs and tallied a team-high 47 total bases.

Williams added three hits, two homers, three runs and four RBIs and Benson totaled two hits, one walk, one run, one RBI and two steals.

Swank doubled and had one RBI, Sumpter and Vasseau registered one hit and one RBI and Ahn and Durr both finished with one hit and one run.

Swank’s 10 doubles and 21 RBIs both lead the team, while Williams’ three hits push her back over .300 for the season.

Brodersen, Ray, Karly Spear and BrookLynn Britton all scored one run.

Sumpter (8-8) spun a five-hitter in the circle and allowed no earned runs and walked only one. Her 55 pitches also included five strikeouts.

Huisman led Pella Christian (1-20, 0-15) with two hits and one run, while Nikkel added one hit and one run and Faith Kacmarynski chipped in one hit and one RBI.

Notes: Newton’s victory over Pella Christian was its sixth straight in the series. The Cardinals defeated the Eagles 17-0 in Pella earlier this season. … The first game of Friday’s doubleheader will go down as a 7-0 forfeit win for Newton. … Newton plays at Oskaloosa on Monday. “We just need everyone to gel at the right time. We’ll have a very hostile environment on Monday,” Leiker said. “Oskaloosa is our biggest rival right now. The fans are chippy. We’ll have to be ready to play.”