Sigourney Softball Senior Night

SIGOURNEY—On June 24, the Sigourney Savages hosted the Iowa Valley Tigers for their final home conference game of the season. After the game, the Savages celebrated the careers of seniors Amiya Smallwood, Ava Finerna, Carly Goodwin, Erin Dawson and Lana Thomas. The Savages celebrated their seniors with a 7-0 win over Iowa Valley.

The Savages quickly found ways to score runs early with three runs in the first two innings. They would add four in the fifth and sixth innings to push their lead to 7-0.

Senior Carly Goodwin spearheaded the offense with three RBIs on three singles. Junior Ava Fisch also had two RBIs of her own, while junior Josephine Moore had one RBI on a double.

Goodwin got the start from the bump once again for Sigourney, and shined once again. She pitched seven innings with no earned runs on two hits with 16 strikeouts. 

After the game, the Sigourney seniors were asked about their experience of the night. Senior Carly Goodwin started things off with, “Senior night is always hard to wrap your head around. Everything is coming to an end, and knowing this is our last sports season together is hard, but we are winning. That’s all you can really ask for.”

Amiya Smallwood shared a sentiment of, “It is definitely a different feeling than in other sports, since we already graduated. This one is definitely going to hurt because we have been doing this for as long as we can remember.”

Next, Lana Thomas described her experience with, “I am super excited to be back. I have been playing with these girls since I was seven. It is awesome that this is our last everything together. I am not super upset, but I am going to miss them a lot.”

After, Ava Fineran spoke of her emotions during the night as, “It’s very wholesome. A lot of emotions heading into it. I just love how we struck out through it all these years and played together.”

Lastly, Erin Dawson expounded on her experience with, “We definitely have been through a lot together as team, and as players. Going through senior nights like basketball and track, I didn’t wrap my head around it until softball because that is the sport that means the most. It is just sad.”  

Sigourney Head Coach Shelly Streigle described what these seniors meant to her, and the program as a whole, as, “These girls mean the world to me. I was actually their teacher twice in third and sixth grade then all through their careers here (on the softball team). They each hold a special place in my heart. I will always be there for them if they need anything. I will be their biggest supporters, outside of their families. They are incredible girls.”

Coach Streigle went on to expound with, “These girls lead by example, whether it is practicing hard or setting the standard for how we act in the dugout. They are always cheering, like Ava Fineran. She is always leading those cheers. Everybody else is stepping up and doing what needs to be done. They each have a role outside of the position they play, and they hold everyone to that standard. They just really mean a lot to the team.”

The Savages wrap up conference play with their fourth straight conference titles, so all five of these girls can say they were four time SICL-Conference Champs in softball. The Savages push to 18-6 on the season with a conference record of 13-1.