Goodwin No-Hits English Valleys, and Savages Secure Conference Title

NORTH ENGLISH—The Sigourney Savages visited the English Valleys Bears on June 21 for a conference matchup. The Savages secured the win, and the South Iowa Cedar League conference title, by a final score of 8-0.

The Savages commenced the game with three runs in the first inning. They added two more in the third, and another in the fourth. In the seventh, the Savages pushed their lead to 8-0 with two more runs.

Carly Goodwin once again stifled the Bears’ offense. Goodwin pitched a seven inning no hitter, in which she struck out 17 of the 23 opposing batters. The one blemish for Goodwin on the day was giving up a walk to English Valleys’ Delaney Hall.

Goodwin pushed her season total for strikeouts to 212. She spoke on being able to achieve her second season with over 200 strikeouts with, “It feels good. I am not really worried about striking everyone out. I know my team has my back, but being able to strike people out for my team means a lot. It gives them momentum heading into batting.”

Goodwin went on to describe her mentality heading into the postseason with, “We just gotta keep doing what we are doing. Last night we had a tough 1-0 loss to Wilton, but we bounced back tonight. Showed them we can hit the ball, and score some runs. Defensively everything was working. Just keep this going into the postseason.”

Lastly, Goodwin expressed her jubilation with winning the conference with, “That’s always our goal. I think this is the third year in a row. The goal for next year is to do the same thing. I think just beating everyone in the conference gives you a lot of confidence going into the postseason about our ability to play.”

The Savage offense was led by Kenzi VanDenHueval, who knocked in three runners on the day. Goodwin also secured two RBIs from the plate on top of the spectacular pitching performance. Three other Savages secured an RBI as well: Ava Fisch, Erin Dawson and Ava Fineran.

Sigourney head coach Shelly Streigle spoke on being able to sweep English Valleys during the season series with, “English Valleys is a nice team. They have a good pitcher, they play hard and they do a lot of things very well. Whenever you beat someone like that it feels good. On the other hand, they are a bit of a rival in softball. Carly (Goodwin) and Kennedy (Axmear) have been friends for a long time, so that friendship helps burn the rivalry.

Coach Striegle went on to describe the feeling of being conference champions again with, “It always feels good to be the champions. That is our initial goal, but our main goal is still out there.” 

She went on to say, “A three-peat always feels good, and these girls worked really hard and they deserve that.”

Lastly, Coach Striegle illustrated that she is emphasizing to her team heading into the postseason to, “stay focused on what we do. If we focus on ourselves, then everything will stay in perspective for us. Focus on what we do well, keep doing it and good things will happen.”

Despite losing both the matchups to the Savages, English Valleys head coach Steve Hester has his head held high. He described the improvements he has seen from his team from the first game to now with, “The young girls showing consistency, and also some great leadership from the older kids. They have been nothing, but positive with the younger players all year. Another thing is our approach at the plate. We have been super patient. We have been more focused on that more so than swings. I think that new way of thinking has helped us a lot.”

With the playoffs looming in the future Coach Hester wants to see his team continue to focus on fundamentals. He described, “One of the reasons I think we always improve is our focus on fundamental work. We don’t really look ahead. Hopefully we can continue to sharpen up our fundamentals, and keep hitting the ball well.” 

The Savages push to 17-4 on the season, and will return to action on June 23, when they host the Tri-County Trojans.

The English Valleys Bears fall to 14-6 on the season, and will return to action on June 23, when they host the Iowa Valley Tigers.