Girls Best of the Week: River Valley softball run-rules its way to three victories

CALEDONIA — The weather might have been unseasonably cold last week, but River Valley's softball bats stayed hot as the squad ran its record to 5-1 this year.

The Vikings not only went 3-0 in games last week, but did so in dominating fashion, winning all three in five innings.

Get caught up on area college athletes: College Notebook: Four area softball players producing in NCAA Division I ranks

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RV opened by giving Pleasant its first loss of the season 12-1 as Lanie Wooten pitched a one-hitter with 10 strikeouts and three walks. At the plate, Sam Woods tripled and homered; Kam Fowler hit a grand slam and single; Bentley Auld also homered and Delaney Myers doubled. The long hit for the Spartans was a double by Katie Jordan.

The Vikings then played North Baltimore in a weekend doubleheader.

In the first game, Sidney Street tossed a three-hitter with three walks and six strikeouts, while Auld and Woods homered again with Auld adding a single and Wooten a double. In the second game, Wooten threw a no-hitter with 14 strikeouts and one walk, plus hit a home run, double and single. Addie Braun doubled and singled, and Auld singled three times.

Here are some other girls spring sports highlights from around the Marion area during a week marred by rainouts and extreme cold temperatures.

More Softball

● Highland toppled Marion Harding 16-4 in five innings with Lydia Shaffer pitching a three-hitter with four walks and eight strikeouts for the Scots. Maddy Stuckman had three hits and Aubree Bellamy and Bri Tuggle both had three hits for Highland.

● Northmor's offense broke loose for 18 hits en route to a 24-1 win over Mount Gilead in five innings. For the Golden Knights, Madison Simpson went 4-for-5 with two doubles, a triple, single and five RBIs; Mahaila Strobel hit a homer with a double and single for five RBIs; Shelby Cooper scored five times with three hits; Raelyn Fulk was 3-for-3; Brooklyn Kissling had two hits; and Kate Kissling had two hits and four RBIs to go with a four-hitter and two walks and four strikeouts in the pitching circle.

● North Union blanked Urbana 11-0 in six innings as Reese DeCamp worked a two-hitter with two walks and eight strikeouts. Zoe Wedding hit a double and scored three times for the Wildcats, while Kennedy HGarrah was 3-for-3 with four RBIs, and Kailin McElroy scored four runs. In a 9-1 loss to Indian Lake, Harrah and Emma Padavano both singled twice.

● North Union also swept a doubleheader with Elgin, winning 6-3 and 16-4. In the first game, Ryleigh Rasey doubled and singled, and Wedding and Kale Keigley each singled twice, while DeCamp scattered eight hits, gave up an earned run, walked four and struck out seven while also getting a double at the plate. In the second game, Brenna Martino allowed three hits and one earned run, walking no one and striking out five. Savannah Queen homered and singled twice to bring in six runs, and DeCamp was 3-for-3 with a double and three runs, while Keigley and Rasey doubled and singled and Wedding doubled and singled twice.

Track and Field

● Northmor won the Mike Armstrong Invitational at Cardington with 225.5 points, while the hosts were third and Gilead Christian seventh. Picking up a pair of wins in the meet for the Knights were Nalia Sackman in the 100-meter hurdles in 18.33 seconds and the 300 hurdles in 55.89, and Haylee Walker in the 100 in 13.83 and 200 in 29.71. Cardington had a pair of winners as Alexis Longdorf took the long jump at 13 feet, 1 inch, and Magi Hallabrin took the 800 in 2:31.6. Northmor's 4x100-meter (57.34), 4x200 (2:04.05) and 4x400 (4:42.5) relays also won.

● Ridgedale hosted its David Schorr Memorial with 10 teams. Scout Central won it with 156 points, while Elgin was fifth and the hosts seventh. Finishing in the top four for the Rockets were Maddie McKenzie (second, 100 hurdles, 18.47), Hannah Murphy (third, 100 hurdles, 18.91) and the 4x200 relay (fourth, 2:01.14). Doing the same for Elgin were Addison Holland (second, 100, 14.02; third, high jump, 4-6) and Delainy Boles (fourth, long jump, 14-5).

● North Union's squad was third with 117 points at the 11-team Triad Invitational. Leading the Wildcats to top four finishes were Gabby Lindsey (first, long jump, 15-4.25; third, 200, 27.84), Allison Stacklin (second, triple jump, 25-11), Kennedy Ludwig (second, 1600, 5:09; third, 800, 2:37.48), Lauren Hall (third, 3200, 13:27.75; fourth, 1600, 6:06.09; fourth, 800, 2:49.05), Riley Heminger (third, 100, 14.0), the 4x800 relay (first, 10:45.71), 4x100 (first, 55.35); 4x200 (second, 1:54.13) and 4x400 (fourth, 5:01.22).

Coaches and statisticians are encouraged to send their results to the Marion Star's Rob McCurdy at rmccurdy@gannett.com, 419-610-0998, X @McMotorsport and Instagram @rob_mccurdy_star.

Vote: Marion Star Girls Best of the Week Performer Poll

● Northmor softball's Madison Simpson went 4-for-5 with two doubles, a triple and five RBIs in a win over Mount Gilead.

● River Valley softball's Lanie Wooten pitched a five-inning no-hitter with one walk and 14 strikeouts, plus hit a home run, double and single in a win over North Baltimore.

● Highland softball's Lydia Shaffer struck out eight, walked three and gave up three hits in a win over Marion Harding.

● North Union softball's Savannah Queen hit a home run and two singles to drive in six runs in a win over Elgin.

● Voting for this week's poll will continue through early Sunday morning at MarionStar.com and its app.

● Winning last week's girls poll with 1,062 votes (29 percent) out of 3,689 was Cardington's Magi Hallabrin, who won the 800 meters in 2:34.19 and was third in the 1600 at the Bucyrus Elks Invitational. Other nominees were Northmor softball's Mahaila Strobel, North Union track's Gabby Lindsey, River Valley track's Madison Ward, Pleasant softball's Katie Jordan and Marion Harding track's Lydia Price.

This article originally appeared on Marion Star: Girls Best: Softball, track athletes endure cold, rainy week