By Sam Parsons
Over the weekend, the Oskaloosa High School baseball and softball teams saw their seasons draw to a close in the postseason, wrapping up another year of OHS sports coverage on KBOE.
Baseball
It was a tough first round draw for the Indians in the baseball substate playoffs: despite a regular season in which they went 18-13 and finished 3rd in the Little Hawkeye Conference, Osky had to travel to Knoxville on Friday night to face the 21-8 Panthers, to whom they had lost 13-9 in the regular season.
The game was a pitcher’s duel the whole way through, but weather threw a wrench in things: after the first 5 innings were played without issue, storms rolled through Knoxville and surrounding areas, resulting in play being paused for roughly 2 hours. That meant that Knoxville starting pitcher Kyler Gifford was pulled from the game after delivering 5 shutout innings, and wet conditions were endured for the final two innings.
Oskaloosa gave the ball to junior Tyler Edgar to start the game on the mound, and he delivered a quality start, pitching 6 innings and allowing only 2 runs on 5 base hits with 3 strikeouts and 4 walks. Edgar was undaunted by the 2-hour weather delay, silencing the Knoxville bats in the 6th inning after the long layoff.
Unfortunately, Edgar did not receive any run support for the Indians, who were snake bitten on the offensive end: despite recording 7 hits as a team, including a double from senior DH Linus Morrison, the Indians failed to get a run on the board, in large part because they had two baserunners that got thrown out at home plate. In the 3rd inning, Morrison attempted to score from 2nd base on a single to left field off the bat of Edgar, but a controversial “out” call at home plate ended the inning. Then, in the 7th inning, the game ended when junior Carter Bonnett attempted to score on a wild pitch, but was tagged out by Knoxville relief pitcher Lincoln Norris covering home plate. Those two instances were the closest Oskaloosa came to getting a run across.
In the end, it was a 2-0 victory for the Panthers, who will take on Fort Madison in the substate semifinals after they upset #2 Marion in the first round.
Oskaloosa finished their season with an 18-14 record, and they graduate a highly impactful senior class of 7 players: Trevin Griffin, Maddox Maxwell, Linus Morrison, Mason Muir, Jake North, Trey Parks, and Tate Peterson.
Softball
After beating Mount Pleasant in the first round of the region playoffs, Oskaloosa was tasked with traveling to #10 Cedar Rapids Xavier on Saturday in search of an upset in the region semifinals for the second straight year.
After a quiet first inning, Xavier got on the board in the 2nd inning to open the scoring when junior Gabby Hagstrom hit an RBI double. The Saints would extend their lead to 3-0 in the 3rd inning when senior Jaselle Lang went deep for a 2-run home run; they then scored their fourth and final run in the 5th inning off an error by the Indians, leaving the score at 4-0.
On the other side, Oskaloosa was able to get runners on base in 5 out of 7 innings, but they were unable to bring any of them home: Kobie Criss, Jillian Parks, and Cadence Grubb each recorded 1 base hit, while Loghan Edgar went 2/3 with 2 singles. Grubb also recorded a walk, and Cylee Smith and Leah Lorentzen each reached base on errors by the Saints’ defense. But none of those baserunners amounted to any runs on the board as Xavier pitcher and Iowa Hawkeye commit Maddyn Gates consistently pitched her way out of tight spots and the defense behind her made some impressive plays.
In the 7th inning, Cylee Smith nearly knocked one out of the park when she took a ball to deep left field, but sophomore Abby Driscoll made a jumping catch at the wall to record the first out of the inning. Lorentzen and Edgar later reached base in back-to-back at bats with 2 outs, but the Indians’ comeback bid ended there, and they fell 4-0.
Oskaloosa finished their season with an 11-26 record, and they graduate 3 seniors that helped to bring the program 3 playoff victories in the past two years after struggling in the postseason for several years prior. Vivian Bolibaugh, Kobie Criss, and Loghan Edgar were all everyday starters that the Indians will need to replace as they head into year 3 under head coach Alex DeJong in 2027.
