The sixth ranked Oskaloosa Indian softball team continued their early season dominance on Saturday at the Jim Turner Classic in Williamsburg.
The Indians started their day bright and early against the Class 3A runners-up from 2014, Bondurant-Farrar, who are the 13th ranked team in Class 3A’s rankings. The Indians got another shutout, taking care of the Lady Jays 4-0. Alexis Groet wasn’t as sharp as she was in her debut last Thursday, but still threw an impressive three-hitter with eight strikeouts and four walks. The sophomore was also one of the bigger offensive stars of the game, getting the first two RBIs in the game for the Indians. She singled home Peyton Zickefoose after a two-out triple in the second, and singled in Aubrey Miller to kick start a three run rally in the sixth.
The big play of the game occurred defensively in the fifth inning, however. Bondurant-Farrar had a runner on second with two outs when the number nine hitter drove a single up the middle. Oskaloosa centerfielder Alexis Vroegh stayed poised and fired home a bullet to catcher Alexis Westercamp who applied the tag to get Osky out of the inning, and at that time, preserve a 1-0 lead.
Things were much easier for the Indians in the second game against Class 1A opponent Lone Tree. Oskaloosa scored one in the first, three in the third, two in the fourth, three in the fifth, and six runs in the sixth inning en route to a 15-0 trouncing of the Lady Lions. Junior pitcher Kylee Silliman had a superb outing, facing the minimum in the six inning win. Silliman had a perfect game until with two outs in the sixth, the number nine hitter singled through the left side to break it up. That batter was promptly picked off first base by catcher Alexis Vroegh shortly after.
The offensive star in the second game was sophomore designated player Krissy McCombs. McCombs went 3 for 4 and hit the ball hard on all three hits.
Taking advantage of a cavernous field in Williamsburg, McCombs launched a shot in the gap that eventually resulted in the ever-rare inside-the-park home run in the third inning. McCombs would come back up in the fifth and the sixth and rope two more offerings over outfielders’ heads and would end up with two triples to wrap up the great outing. She would also record three RBI in the win.
Oskaloosa is 4-0 and has outscored their opponents 29-0 so far this season. They’ll be back at it tonight in their home opener against Grand View Christian, who did not field a team last year. That single varsity game can be heard on 99.5 FM and AM 740 KMZN and on kboeradio.com starting with the pregame right around 7:15 PM for the 7:30 first pitch.
Photo by Bob Ballard
