Oskaloosa junior Alexis Groet fired a 2-hit, 11 strikeout performance Wednesday night pitching 6th ranked Oskaloosa past Perry 3-1 in the opening round of the 4A state softball tournament in Fort Dodge. The All-stater retired 16 straight Perry batters at one point.
The Indians jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning on an Aubrey Miller solo home run over the centerfield fence. The Jayettes failed to take advantage of some sloppy Indian defense to start the game after both Johanna Diw and Sidney Vancil reached following back to back Indian errors. However, Perry could not score on the 2nd and 3rd, no out situation as Groet retired Alyssa Kruger, Rachel Kinney and Emma Olejniczak in order without a single run scoring.
The Indians scored the game winning runs in the bottom of the third inning on a two run single by Alexis Westerkamp. The junior catcher led the team in RBI’s and launched a rocket back up the box and past Olejniczak to score a pair of Indians. Perry committed 3 errors in the inning which led to the Indian scoring opportunity.
Perry finally got on the board in the top of the 6th inning when Diw blasted a line drive home run over the left field fence cutting the deficit to 3-1. Vancil followed with the only other Perry hit of the night but Groet finished strong striking out Kruger and enticing a soft pop up by Kinney to end the inning. Perry was retired in order in the 7th.
Groet was the star allowing 2 hits and no walks while striking out 11 Perry batters. Emma Olejniczak took the loss despite pitching well. The junior struck out 5 while allowing 6 hits and 2 walks and 2 earned runs.
The Indians advance to the school’s first semifinal appearance Thursday when they play Fairfield at 1:00.
Perry will play two games for sure on Thursday when they battle Creston in the consolation round at 12 noon on Yankee Field and will play one more game Thursday afternoon depending on a win or loss. If they lose to Creston, they will play for 7th place at 2:00. If they beat Creston, they will play the 5th place game at 4:00.
Shawn Kenney will continue to provide play by play coverage of both games on KDLS and raccoonvalleyradio.com.