Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

SOLON – There are plenty of factors that have gone into the abrupt 180 the West High softball team has pulled over the past two weeks.

One of the biggest has reasons for the West High about-face has been the performance of its pitching staff and no one has been better during that stretch than Kylie Heisdorffer.

Heisdorffer won her seventh consecutive start on Saturday as West High downed Class 3A seventh-ranked Solon 6-1 in the final game of the two-day Solon Classic.

West High had a 10-game winning streak snapped with a 5-4 loss to 4A No. 11 Burlington in its opener on Saturday but responded behind seven strong innings from Heisdorffer to win for the 14th time in its last 16 games.

“I feel like I’ve gotten more confident in myself and our defense and our bats,” Heisdorffer said. “I feel like we can take on anything.”

Heisdorffer held Solon (24-9) scoreless for the first six innings while improving her season record to 9-6.

The junior right-hander allowed only an unearned run in the seventh inning on six hits and struck out three while walking one.

It was the fifth straight start that Heisdorffer has allowed two or fewer earned runs.

“She came out and I saw her throw that first inning and I could just tell she was on,” West High coach Justin Lutjen said. “She had a little more pop than usual so I could tell she was ready to go.”

Kaitlyn Fangman and Kaitlyn Klosterman both had RBI infield singles in a two-run West High fifth inning that broke open a 2-0 game.

Freshman Brylee Klosterman put the finishing touches on the win with her team-leading fifth home run in the seventh, an opposite field solo blast that made it 5-0.

The win improved West High to 17-13 on the season after a 3-11 start.

“We are just working more as a team and everyone is confident,” Klosterman said. “We know that we can compete with any team out there.”

Heisdorffer set Solon down in order in the top of the first inning and West High got an early lead when Taleah Smith drew a leadoff walk, stole second, went to third on a sacrifice bunt and scored on a wild pitch.

West High never let Solon get even.

The Women of Troy added a run in the third on a Darby Donovan leadoff single and a Solon fielding error.

 “I thought we gave them some runs,” Solon coach Jim White said. “The teams that we have been shoring up came back to haunt us a little bit again.”

The early lead was plenty for Heisdorffer.

After allowing four or more runs in five of her first eight starters, Heisdorffer has given up more than three runs just twice in her last seven starts, all wins.

Heisdorffer lowered her ERA to 1.95 with the complete game win on Saturday.

“We know they are a tough team,” Heisdorffer said. “It’s fun and exciting because we know a lot of their girls and it’s just to play a tough team.”

Klosterman led West High at the plate going 2-for-4 with a double and home run and two runs.

Brooke Goodman had two hits and scored a run while Kaitlyn Klosterman and Fangman each drove in runs.

“It was a pretty dominating performance all the way around,” Lutjen said. “Offensively we put the ball in play, we moved runners, we did all the small things you have to do to win a ball game.”

Jess Heick was 2-for-3 for Solon while Madison Rogers had a hit and scored a run and Jadyn Jeter had a hit and drove in a run.

Solon went 1-1 on Saturday after defeating Des Moines Lincoln 8-4 in its opener.

The Spartans finished 3-1 at their own tournament after defeating City High 6-5 and Mediapolis 12-0 on Friday.

“I felt really good about how we played yesterday and today we had some defensive lapses,” White said. “We didn’t have our regular defensive practice this morning because we played a little earlier so that’s a good reminder for me to stick with what works for us.”

Solon               000  000 1 –  1  6  3

West High        101  020 x –  5  8  3

W – Kylie Heisdorffer            L – Kayla West

2B – ICW: Brylee Klosterman

HR – ICW: Brylee Klosterman