Thursday’s Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union rankings saw Greene County drop from the Class 3A top 15 after being number 11 for one week. The Rams responded with a 4-3 victory in 11 innings in Jefferson over Class 2A fourth ranked St. Edmond of Ft. Dodge in a game heard on KG98. Just one week earlier, the Rams lost in extra innings on the road to East Sac County only hours after finding out they were in the rankings. This week, Coach Tom Kennedy’s team came up with a big win vs. a ranked opponent after not being rated. Greene County is 16-5 entering a non-conference home game tonight (Fri.) vs. Ogden in a game that can be heard on KG98 with coverage starting around 7:15 p.m. The Gaels had a four-game winning streak snapped and they left Jefferson with their fourth loss of the season in 20 games.
Sophomore catcher Marissa Promes delivered a one out single to the warning track in left field into a stiff wind to bring home the winning run vs. St. Edmond. Senior Jennifer Kennedy scored the winning run. She opened the inning with a single. She advanced to second on a passed ball, then took third on an infield hit by sophomore Emily Christensen. Greene County had 13 hits, no errors, and left 14 on base, while the Gaels had eight hits, five errors, and five left on.
Kennedy was the winning pitcher. She allowed seven hits in before anyone was out in the fifth inning, but just one hit the rest of the night. The Gaels made outs 21 of the last 22 times they went to the plate. Kennedy walked only one batted and struck out seven. St. Edmond entered the game with a .350 team batting average, but Kennedy and the Greene County defense held the Gaels to a team BA just under .200.
The offense for Greene County was led by Christensen with a triple, double, and two singles. She drove in two runs while going four for six on the night. One of her outs was to the edge of the right field warning track. Kennedy was three for six with three singles, and sophomore Hannah Onken reached base all five times she batted. Onken, hitting eighth, singled three times, reached on an error, and walked.
Losing pitcher Katy Donnelly, a senior, struck out eight batters and walked just two in 10-1/3 innings.
The Gaels are tied for first place in the North Central Conference while Greene County is leading by one game in the loss column in the Heart of Iowa Activities Conference. The Rams play on Saturday in the South Hamilton tournament. They open in Stanhope at 9 a.m. vs. Prairie Valley (Gowrie).