Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

SOLON – Throughout the regular season Brad Holub has seen flashes of the potential his Solon squad possesses.

A few hours after postseason paths were released Solon provided another glimpse of that potential.

Solon scored two runs in the top of the first inning and never trailed in a 5-1 win over Class 4A top-ranked Carlisle on Friday in its second game of its own tournament.

“We have a ton of potential and it’s frustrating sometimes as a coach when you don’t see it all the time but we know we have the potential,” Holub said. “Today we got great pitching, we had timely hitting and very disciplined at bats and our defense was really solid.”

Class 3A ninth-ranked Solon improved to 18-11 with the win over Carlisle (23-3) and finished the opening day of its two-day home event 1-1 after falling to 2A top-ranked Regina 6-2 in the first game on Friday.

Carlisle defeated Regina 6-0 in the other game on Friday.

“We just tried to refocus after the first game,” Solon junior Kendall Jensen said. “We know how to play softball we just had to come into the game knowing we had nothing to lose and we came out and played hard.”

Jensen tossed six strong innings and Claire LaDage had three hits and drove in three runs as Solon posted its most impressive win of the season on the same day the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union released its postseason pairings.

“We knew they were a good team and we wanted a win because we just wanted momentum going into the next week,” LaDage said. “I think we really showed up as a team.”

LaDage had a two-run single in the top of the first inning that gave Solon early momentum and a lead it would never relinquish.

Mia Stahle led off the game with a single and Hilary Wilson lined a single to center field to put two runners on with one out.

After an intentional walk to cleanup hitter Addie Miller LaDage lined a pitch into the right-center field gap for a two-run single.

“They walked Addie before me and the first thing that popped into my mind was it my was my time,” LaDage said. “I had to do my job and put something in play.”

Leading 2-0 Jensen took care of the rest.

The junior right-hander held a Carlisle offense that entered hitting .342 as a team to just one run on four hits.

Jensen struck out four and walked four in the six-inning complete game.

“I think it gives our whole team confidence when we get an early lead,” Jensen said. “I could go out and pitch freely and pitch the way I know how to pitch and not worry about anything when I know our team is behind me.”

Miller singled leading off the third and scored on a Kassidy Lietz sacrifice fly to give Solon a 3-1 lead.

The Spartans tacked on two more runs in the fifth on an RBI single by LaDage and a Wildcat throwing error.

Izzy Frees and Miller each had two hits for Solon as the Spartans hammered 12 hits.

“Our bats were phenomenal today, we’ve had games where we’ve been up and down but we really stayed on them,” LaDage said. “We talked about what we were seeing at the plate and adjust really well.”

Regina                        100  05  –  6  11  1

Solon                         501  02  –  2   5   0

W – Reese Litton                    L – Maddyn Gates

2B – ICR: Morgan Gahan

HR – SOL: Hilary Wilson

Solon                          201  020  –  5  12  0

Carlisle                       100  000  –  1    4  1

W – Kendall Jensen                L – Logan Brown

2B – SOL: Izzy Frees

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