OSKALOOSA — Oskaloosa’s softball team had averaged just three runs a game during its current four-game losing streak entering its Class 4A regional quarterfinal matchup with Iowa City High Saturday night.

The Indians (14-18) bounced back in a big way by banging out 20 hits and cruising to a 16-2 six-inning romp of the Little Hawks (10-27).

The win sends the Indians into tonight’s regional semifinal against 13th-ranked Ottumwa (27-8) in a 7:30 p.m. contest.

The Bulldogs swept top-ranked Des Moines East on Thursday night then beat Des Moines Lincoln Friday night to capture the Central Iowa Metro League’s Metro title.

The Oskaloosa duo of Shawni Wills and Jennifer Whitehead were too much for Iowa City High to handle. They could have taken on Iowa City High by themselves, collecting five hits apiece in the game and combining for nine RBI.

Oskaloosa coach Jay Harms was a bit stunned how well Wills and Whitehead hit the ball.

“What a night those two girls had. I’ll take 10-for-10 out of my (No.) 2 and 4 spots anytime that they can do that,” he said. “They got the key hits for us. The ball is really jumping off their bats and that’s a nice sign to see.”

Getting to a quick 3-0 lead in the first three innings made things a bit easier for the Indians.

“We talked about getting off to a good start,” Harms said. “I’ve been coaching for a long time and I told the kids when you play at tournament time, the teams that get out early put a lot of pressure on the other team. We wanted to get out of the gate early even though I thought it would be a lot tougher ball game tonight.

“Up and down the lineup, the kids hit the ball well. We knew (Iowa City High pitcher Alli) Roe is not a fireballer, but you’ve got to be discipline and stay back and let the ball get to you. We adjusted really well on that, but we have to adjust again because we’ll see a lot better pitcher and a lot faster pitcher by Ottumwa.”

The duo combined to score the first run of the game and Wills had a one-out single and Whitehead doubled home Wills for a 1-0 lead in the first inning.

The Indians extended the lead to 3-0 as Wills singled and went to second on a bunt single by Dana Van Renterghem. Whitehead drove in Wills with an infield single and Jacque Terrell doubled to left and brought courtesy runner Kirsti Edwards around to score.

Oskaloosa added four more runs in the fourth  as Wills and Terrell both had RBI doubles and Whitehead contributed a run-scoring single.

After getting two more runs in the fifth for a 9-1 lead, the Indians put the game completely out of reach by sending 11 batters to the plate and scoring seven runs.

The first four batters had singles with Mackenzie Gott and Kristelle Slycord driving in one run apiece. Samantha Allgood got on base on an error and younger sister, Shelby Allgood, bounced into a fielder’s choice as Gott was forced out at home. Ashley Jimenez, who had two hits in the game, singled home a pair of runs and Wills chipped in a two-run single of her own for a 15-1 margin. Whitehead ended the scoring for the Indians with an RBI single for her fifth and final hit of the game.

The Little Hawks managed to get a run on a hit by Peyton Koenig and a bases loaded walk by Shelby Yoder. But Whitehead (9-14) got Nicole Burian to line out to Terrell at shortstop and Ashley Duthie to ground out to Terrell to end the game.

While Harms was glad to see plenty of offense from his team, he wasn’t entirely pleased how the team finished the game.

“I was disappointed a little bit how we finished,” he said. “We struggled there at the end and would have liked to have finished a little stronger. But we get to move on, which is something we haven’t done for a while and we’re excited about going over to Ottumwa. It will be a challenge playing at their place and it will be interesting how this group handles it Monday night.”



Class 4A

Regional Quarterfinal

Oskaloosa 16, Iowa City High 2, 6 innings

O    102    427    —    16    20    4

ICH    001    001    —    2    4    3

Oskaloosa battery — Jennifer Whitehead (W, 9-14, 6 IP, 2 R, 4 H, 2 BB, 3 K) and Dana Van Renterghem.

2B — Whitehead 2, Shawni Wills, Jacque Terrell.

Hits — Whitehead 5-for-5, Wills 5-for-5, Mackenzie Gott 3-for-4, Terrell 2-for-5, Ashley Jimenez 2-for-4, Van Renterghem 1-for-5, Kristelle Slycord 1-for-3, Samantha Allgood 1-for-3. Runs — Wills 4, Jimenez 3, Kailyn Risher 2, Sa. Allgood 2, Slycord, Terrell, Shelby Allgood, Jacey VanRoekel, Kirsti Edwards, RBI — Wills 5, Whitehead 4, Gott 2, Jimenez 2, Terrell, Slycord.