Creston pitchers Taryn Fredrickson and Kennedy Strider pitched 10 shutout innings with 12 strikeouts and just two hits allowed in a 12-0, 7-0 home doubleheader sweep of Harlan Tuesday night.
Fredrickson pitched three hitless innings with four strikeouts in the quick three-inning 12-0 romp to open the night. She was backed by an offense that pounded out 12 hits including home runs by Jersey Foote and Ava Adamson. The two junior sluggers each went 3-of-3 at the plate and combined in drive in seven runs.
“Before I left home today I looked at my mom and I said, ‘You know what? I think it’s about time that I hit a home run.’ I came here and actually did it,” Adamson said. “I think we all went into the game thinking to hit it hard, and everyone just feeds off one another.”
Fredrickson and first baseman Evy Marlin each hit a double and single for the Panthers in the opener.
Strider, a freshman emerging as the No. 2 pitcher behind the veteran Fredrickson, battled in a game that was tight early at 2-0 through three innings. Avery Staver’s two-run homer and Adamson’s run-scoring triple boosted the lead to 5-0 in the fourth.
The cushion grew to 7-0 in the fifth on run-scoring hits by Fredrickson and Sophie Hagle. Strider continued to sail through the shutout until two Harlan batters reached base in the seventh. Strider left them stranded on a flyout and two strikeouts.
Strider allowed two hits with eight strikeouts and three walks in the complete game victory. Adamson, her catcher, said the Panther freshman is gaining confidence and handcuffed the Cyclones most of the night with her fastball and an occasional change-up.
“One thing we’ve really worked on is having the mindset that if you go in there and think you’re going to pitch good, you’re going to pitch good,” Adamson said. “We worked it out together, one pitch at a time. We’re always focusing on the next pitch. She did a good job tonight and Taryn pitched well, too.”
Foote and Avery Staver had two-hit performances in the second game, but with eight total hits in seven innings the offense wasn’t quite as explosive against Cyclone lefthander Camryn Goshorn, who collected six strikeouts.
“We swung it well in the first game and their second girl was a little bit better,” Creston coach Dave Hartman said. “We might have been a little pull-happy in the second game trying to hit home runs. I want us trying to hit it hard, but we could have done a better job of getting inside the ball and getting it to the middle of the field. We did a little better job of that in the later innings. We got to use a lot of different people in the second game and that’s good for us.”
Hartman was pleased with the efforts of both pitchers.
“Taryn was very good tonight and KK (Strider) battled back well the few times she got behind in the count,” Hartman said. “I thought she fielded her position well on the bunts and the popup she had. That was a tight game for awhile at 2-0 and she handled that well. I had planned to let Avery pitch a little bit, too, but the way Kennedy was going with the shutout I just decided to let her finish it.”
Creston improved to 2-1 overall and 2-0 in the Hawkeye Ten Conference going into a key game at home Thursday against Glenwood. Preseason projections listed Atlantic and Glenwood as the top contenders as Creston tries to defend its two straight league championships in 2022 and 2023. Junior Allison Koontz is one of the top pitchers and hitters in the conference. She hit .436 last year with nine home runs, while pitching with a 1.95 ERA and 185 strikeouts for the 18-13 Rams.
“We’re hitting it well and getting better defensively, which is good because the competition level is stepping up a notch Thursday,” Hartman said. “They have an outstanding player who can beat you pitching and hitting. They have almost everybody back and they added the coach’s daughter that was at Abe Lincoln last year. We’re looking forward to it.”