The Pleasantville softball and baseball teams each traveled to separate locations Thursday evening, and came away with a split. The softball team picked up a 13-3, five-inning win over conference foe Des Moines Christian, while the baseball team fell 11-1 in six innings to former conference foe #1 in Class 1A Martensdale-St. Mary’s.
The Trojan softball team was involved in a low-scoring affair early on, with each team plating one run in the first. It would remain a 1-1 game until the bottom of the third, when the Lions scored another run to take a slim lead. Pleasantville responded with a huge fourth inning, scoring nine runs to take the lead for good. Three more runs in the fifth made it 13-2, and Des Moines Christain could not extend the game with another run in their half of the inning.
Mackenzie McGriff, Mallory McKinney and Riley Thill each had two base hits to lead the way for the Trojans. Amber McKinney, Mallory McKinney and McGriff each had home runs as well. Faith Vanderhart was the pitcher of record, giving up just two hits while walking one batter and picking up one strikeout. Pleasantville improves to 7-9 overall and finishes West Central Conference play at 4-3. They’ll be back in action this evening at home, taking on Wayne. Assistant coach Robert Friday says that the heavy schedule of games, combined with the intense heat of the past week does not make things easy, the final games should be a good way to segway into the postseason.
“We come back with Wayne, and Saturday morning we have Moravia, which wasn’t on our original schedule. It’s not going to be easy to finish the year, but we should be fresh going into Monday’s affair with Pella Christian.”
The Pleasantville baseball team had a tough task in traveling to take on Martensdale-St. Mary’s, the top-ranked team in Class 1A. The Trojans could not hold onto an early 1-0 lead, as the Blue Devils scored four runs in the bottom of the first to take control. Two more runs in the second and third put Martensdale-St. Mary’s up 6-1, and four more in the fifth put the game effectively out of reach. The Blue Devils were able to end it in the sixth with a run scored, putting the 10-run rule into effect. Pleasantville’s regular season ends at 3-13 overall, and they’ll return to action Saturday, hosting West Central Valley to get the Class 2A postseason underway.