(Atlantic) The Atlantic girl’s softball team is heading to the State Softball Tournament after beating MOC-Floyd Valley 5-0 in a Class 3A Regional final on Monday night at Atlantic.
“It started in the circle with Olivia Engler shutting down a good hitting team in MOC-Floyd Valley,” said Atlantic Head Coach Terry Hinzmann. “In a regional final to shut out a team in this fashion is what we come to expect from her all season.”
With the solid defense behind her, Engler completed a near-perfect game allowing just one base runner. Engler allowed no runs, on one hit, struck out nine, and retired 20 out of the 21 MOC-Floyd Valley hitters.
Carlin Smith took the loss for the Dutchmen allowing five runs on eight hits, struck out one, and walked no one.
Malena Woodward blasted a solo home run over the left center field fence in the bottom of the first inning to put the Trojans ahead 1-0. Atlantic plated another run in the second inning. Lauren Nicholas singled, and Ava Rush drove her in for a 2-0 lead. The home team plated another run in the fourth. Kennedy Goergen stroked a single, and Jada Jensen drove her home for a 3-0 lead. Woodward laced a double and scored on an error in the fifth inning, and the Trojans plated one more run in the sixth on back-to-back doubles off the bats of Jensen and Nicolas to seal the deal.
“Our underclassmen performed well,” said Hinzmann. “Malena Woodward started us off with the home run, and hit a double later on, and Jada Jensen showed discipline at the plate, drove the ball, and put runners in scoring position.”
Engler had retired 17 straight Dutchmen hitters before Kady Hoekstra snapped the streak in the sixth inning.
Woodward led the Trojan hitters with a home run and a double. Jada Jensen singled and doubled, and drove in a run, Lauren Nicholas went 2-3 at the plate with a single and a double and an RBI, and Ava Rush finished the night with an RBI single.
“The key was we got runners on and we got ’em in,” said Hinzmann.
Atlantic runs the winning streak to fifteen and breaks the single-season win record with 33 wins to just five losses. MOC-Floyd Valley bows out with a 17-15 record.
