The ADM softball team experienced a rare low moment last Wednesday, when a much-anticipated matchup between two ranked conference opponents ended with the Tigers falling flat. The Carlisle Wildcats beat ADM 7-1 in Adel that day, and the Tigers didn’t play well in any particular facet of the game.
If momentum means anything, then the No. 5 Tigers should put on a good show against Tuesday night against the Greene County Rams, ranked third in Class 3A. First pitch is at approximately 7:30 p.m., with pregame coverage on K107 and raccoonvalleyradio.com at approximately 7:15 p.m.
ADM showed no hangover effect from the loss to Carlisle, as the Tigers (12-2) rammed through the competition in their home tournament Friday and Saturday, winning all four games with shutouts. The story of the tournament was undoubtedly the pitching of junior Molly Jacobsen, who added a no-hitter to her ridiculous state line of just five hits allowed in 25 innings.
Jacobsen’s effort overshadowed some timely hitting by ADM’s offense, including a display of power from different parts of the lineup. Sophomore second basemen Kate Collins hit her first two homers of the year out of the No. 2 hole, while senior Taylor Boorn cranked her third long ball of the year with a grand slam in Saturday’s 7-0 win over Roland-Story.
Tigers head coach Rick Dillinger says the power is a direct result of his hitters’ immediate response from the Carlisle game to improve their plate discipline.
“Well, we’ve been hitting the ball pretty hard at times, but it seems like when kids get perfect timing is when the ball actually carries out and that’s what we’ve been trying to stress,” Dillinger said. “The big thing is for the weekend is that I thought when we played Carlisle (Wednesday), we swung at so many pitches out of the strike zone and were pretty disciplined with what our strike zone is and what our strike zone should be.
“So we had a little practice after that, a little talk and over the weekend, we did a pretty good job with is. Now we still need to improve it, but once we improve that as far as hitting good pitches to hit, I think you’ll see us even hitting the ball better.”
The Rams (12-1) lost their only game of the season on Friday, a 8-2 defeat at East Marshall. Their 12-0 start is the best in program history, and all nine primary hitters from last season’s team that placed third in the Class 3A state tournament are back.