They wasted little time making a statement. The Malcolm softball team needed just over two hours and six-and-a-half innings to win two games to sweep Arlington in the Oct. 9 C-7 district final to earn the school’s fourth trip to the NSAA State Softball Championships.
On a windy Friday in Malcolm, the Clippers piled on six runs in the bottom of the first in game one. Playing on an unfamiliar field and fighting a stiff south breeze, the Eagles committed four errors in the opening inning.
Malcolm did not experience similar struggles as the Clippers’ defense backed up a strong pitching performance by Abbi Arroyo in the 12-0 shutout.
“When our defense is playing well it allows Abbi to just pitch,” Malcolm head coach Travis Meyer said. “When she feels like she has to do it all herself, she overthrows and starts missing spots.”
Ava Helms led the Clippers with two hits and three runs batted in. The freshman third baseman has been clutch down the stretch for the Clippers, hitting .542 with 15 RBIs over her last 10 games.
“Ava has earned everything she’s gotten this year,” Meyer said. “We have a lot of older talent on this team but she’s able to get in there and hold her own with our veteran players.”
In the circle, Arroyo allowed just one hit – the game’s leadoff batter – and retired eight of Arlington’s last 10 batters in the game.
“Abbi is so good at creating bad contact,” Meyer said. “When she changes speeds and locates well, it makes it hard to get good swings.”
The Clippers’ home field turned into a launching pad in the second game of the day as there were five long balls in Malcolm’s 16-5 clincher.
Jordyn Virus got the party started in the top of the first. The senior blasted a three-run bomb over the center field fence. Later in the same inning, as the 14th batter of the inning, the senior added an RBI single. The Clippers scored 11 runs in the inning.
Abby Cantrell followed suit in the top of the third when she hit a 3-run home run to center. Alyssa Fortik hit her seventh homer of the year with a game-clincher in the fourth inning.
“We worked all week on zone discipline,” Meyer said. “We focused on working counts and making pitchers make mistakes.
“I was extremely happy with our plate discipline. Best of the year.”
The Eagles got home runs from Hannah Stahlecker and Hailey Brenn in the loss.
The Clippers earned their way to the district final with a pair of wins in the Oct. 5 C-5 subdistrict. Malcolm opened with a 14-1 victory over Wilber-Clatonia before ending Milford’s season in a 14-5 rout. Fortik homered in both games of the subdistrict.
The No. 4 ranked Clippers (25-8) are the No. 7 seed in the state tournament. Malcolm will face No. 3 ranked and second-seeded Fairbury (24-7) in the opening round on Wednesday morning. The defending state champions bested Malcolm 10-9 on Sept. 15 in Malcolm. The double-elimination tournament runs through Friday afternoon in Hastings.
“I’m convinced there’s not a team in Class C we can’t beat,” Meyer said. “If we approach the tournament like we did our games this past Friday, we are going to be a tough out.”
