The unranked Greene County Rams defeated #6 Center Point-Urbana in the first round of the Class 3A portion of the 2014 Iowa High School Girls State Softball Tournament Monday north of Ft. Dodge at Rogers Sports Complex by a score of 2-0. The win came in the first-ever state softball tournament game for a Jefferson-based team. The Rams will play again on Thursday in the semifinals at 7:30 p.m. against #3 Clarke, a game you can hear on Real Country KG98 with pre-game starting at 7 p. m. Clarke was the 2013 runner-up to Bondurant-Farrar. B-F meets second ranked East Marshall (Le Grand) in the other semifinal Thursday night. Two winners play at 2:30 p.m. Friday for the 3A State title while the two teams that lose in the semifinals will meet for third place on Friday at 1:30 p.m.
Marissa Promes broke a scoreless tie between the Rams and CP-U in the bottom of the fifth by hitting the first pitch well over the center field fence for her third home of the season and a 1-0 lead. The home was the sixteenth this season for the Rams, and seven of the round-trippers have come in the four postseason games. Carleigh Paup began the bottom of the sixth with an opposite field double to left and was driven in by Kayla Mobley’s two-out single to center.
Promes was also impressive on the pitching rubber by tossing a three-hit shut out with six strikeouts and no walks. The Rams were charged with three errors to none for the Stormin’ Pointers. Promes stranded four base runners, three at third base and another at second.
The Rams had two runs on four hits, while CP-U had no runs on three hits. Losing pitcher Baily Smith, a ninth grader, held in check what had been a high-powered Greene County offense. The Rams had the minimum 12 batters through four innings before Promes belted the homer. Emma Saddoris started the Rams’ first inning, but was later erased on the bases.
The contest took just 66 minutes to play. The win was the fourth straight by the Rams over a team ranked 11th or higher. They’ll try for a fifth straight against Clarke.