The Sigourney softball team (11-5, 11-0) remained undefeated in South Iowa Cedar League play as the Savages jumped ahead of English Valleys (3-10, 3-7) and never looked back on their way to a 9-3 victory over the Bears.
Early fireworks kickstarted the night for Sigourney as senior starting pitcher Josephine Moore hit a laser over the centerfield fence for her sixth home run of the season, plating two runs on the blast. A line drive off of her bat, Moore didn’t initially believe the ball was going to leave the park, “I thought it was just going to hit the bottom of the fence, it really surprised me that it went over.”
Moore surrendered an early run on a passed ball, allowing the Bears to cut the lead to one, but locked in from there, sitting down seven straight batters as Sigourney extended its lead to 6-1.
English Valleys threatened again in the bottom of the fourth, scoring their second run of the game on a bases-loaded single by freshman Pantera Spies, but a quick cutoff and strong throw from Sigourney center fielder Kinsey Clubb prevented a second run from scoring.
From there, Moore dialed back in, getting three consecutive outs to strand the bases loaded, establishing a theme for the evening as she consistently stranded runners in scoring position. She continued to dominate with runners on in the late innings, surrendering only one more run and stranding a total of four runners on third base. With a couple of additional insurance runs tagged on by Sigourney taking advantage of a smattering of English Valleys errors in the late innings, the Savages ultimately extended their lead to six and held it to a final score of 9-3.
Moore was credited with the win in her complete game effort, allowing three earned runs on six hits and four walks while accumulating 11 strikeouts.
Bear starting pitcher Kaylynn Caster also went the distance, allowing nine runs, two of which were earned on 11 hits and six walks while getting slapped with the loss. Her defense struggled behind her, committing five errors.
Offensively, Clubb, Dani Aller and Kia Montgomery each scored two runs for the Savages while Moore and Devyn Smallwood each plated a pair of RBIs.
English Valleys leadoff hitter Aubrey Achenbach lead the way for the Bears offensively, scoring two runs in a 2-3 effort, also picking up a walk on the evening.
Sigourney will return to action Thursday night in another conference game when they travel to BGM to take on another set of Bears at 5:30 p.m.