The Martensdale-St Marys Blue Devils won 8-0 against the Griswold Tigers on Monday night in the Class 1A Region 4 Final. From the start of the ball game Blue Devils pitcher Campbell German seemed locked in as she collected 2 strikeouts and gave up no hits in the top of the first inning. In the bottom of the first inning is where Martensdale-St Marys made their first splash scoring 3 runs from an error thrown at first and a 2 RBI single by Shelby Woods put them up 3-0. The Tigers still had no luck hitting in the top of the second inning as German struck out two more and forced a pop fly. The bottom of the second inning saw 3 hits in a row for the Blue Devils including an RBI double to increase their lead at 4-0. After the second inning, both teams seemed to be stuck in neutral offensively with Griswold pitcher Karly Millikan only giving up 2 hits through the next two innings.

In the bottom of the fifth inning Martensdale-St Marys caught a second wind and went on to post 4 more runs which included a triple by Mac German and a 2-run homer from Shelby Woods giving them a massive advantage at 8-0. Griswold would remain hitless in the next two innings and never got a runner past second on the day. German ended the game with 3 strikeouts in a row, summarizing the difficult night of hitting for the Tigers as they did not record a hit all game.

When looking back on the regional final against the Blue Devils, Tigers head coach Jody Rossell complimented the talent displayed throughout the evening.

Campbell German had a truly impressive night for Martensdale-St Marys pitching 7 innings, throwing 14 strikeouts, with 3 walks, no hits, and no runs. Griswold saw great effort from Karly Millikan pitching 6 innings, collecting 3 strikeouts, giving up 8 runs, and 12 hits. Tigers catcher Whitney Pennock also helped her team by collecting 2 walks. Griswold’s loss in the regional ends their season, which also ends the high school careers for 3 seniors that coach Rossell admires, Whitney Pennock, Dakota Reynolds, and Karly Millikan.

Coach Rossell also explained that while the season ended shorter than she would like, there was still a tremendous amount of success to be proud of.

The Tigers softball season ends with a well-earned record of 27-4. The Blue Devils will start the State Softball tournament in Fort Dodge on July 22nd.