The Oskaloosa softball team played Des Moines Hoover on the road last night and received a challenge in both games of the doubleheader from the Class 5A school.

Hoover has a losing record, but plays mainly large school opponents, and showed they were no slouches against the top-ranked team in Class 4A. In game one of the doubleheader, Oskaloosa went up early, but had to hold on for dear life as Alexis Groet had to work through several jams in the game. Oskaloosa scored two runs in the fifth that would prove to be the deciders, as Aubrey Miller and Peyton Zickefoose knocked in a couple of runs. Oskaloosa stranded 11 runners in the game, and Hoover stranded 10. Miller and Josie Bunnell were the offensive standouts, as neither was retired at the plate and had a double. Senior Bethany Rowley continued her hot hitting, crushing her second home run of the season.

The second game was every bit the same challenge, as both pitchers worked through the first seven innings scoreless to force extra. In the eighth inning, Oskaloosa got a double from Rowley, a double from Kylee Silliman to drive her in, and then a two-run homer from Alexis Westercamp to give the Indians a 3-0 lead. Silliman would hold off the Husky rally in the bottom of the inning to get a 3-1 win and keep Oskaloosa unbeaten at 16-0.
It was the first game in six days for the Indians since beating Dallas Center-Grimes last Wednesday, and there were definitely moments that the team didn’t seem as sharp. Osky committed ten errors in the two games, which is more than they committed in the first 14 games combined. But, even with that adversity, the team managed to respond and get themselves another couple of wins.

The softball team is in action on the road at Pella tonight in a single varsity game. That begins at 7:30 PM tonight.