The Grundy Center summer sports teams each won at South Hardin Thursday in NICL-West action. The baseball team won 10-1 as aired on 99 The Wave, and the softball team won 11-0 in six innings.
In the baseball game, the Spartans started strong with five runs in the first inning. Judd Jirovsky singled to drive in a run in the second at-bat of the game, followed by Ryker Thoren driving in a run for a 2-0 lead. A run scored when Pete Lebo reached on an error, followed by two straight walks with the bases loaded. The Spartans added single tallies in the third and fifth before creating separation with three runs in the seventh. Preston Dolash had a solo homer in the seventh to put South Hardin on the board before the Spartans finished the win.
Jirovsky pitched six innings with nine strikeouts and no walks.
“Big game for us,” Jirovsky says. “We’re trying to win them all, and them being such a hot team coming in, it was really important, especially at their place. It was going to be a high stakes game. Coming out with five runs in the first inning was definitely huge, but felt like the guys were ready to play. We’re confident. We’ve got a lot of guys seeing the ball well over the plate and playing great defense. And it showed out there today.”
Brody Zinkula had three hits and Thoren had three RBIs to lead offensively. Head Coach Pat Brown Jr. says it was a crucial conference win.
“We took batting practice inside, we’ve got a great little cage in the air conditioned gym, the kids were literally cool and they knew they had a big game coming up,” Brown says. “They took care of business in the gym and then they came here, and pleasantly surprised on how well we performed tonight against a team that’s been pretty hot. To get a chance to play a team that’s got a winning record that’s hot, we haven’t had a lot of those opportunities. Tonight when we did, it just kind of shows what kind of team we’ve got right now.”
Peyton Welch pitched 5.2 innings for South Hardin with nine strikeouts and four walks.
In the softball game, Grundy Center scored two in the second, three in the third, two in the fifth and four in the sixth to end the game early via the run margin rule. Lauren Zajac had three hits and three RBIs to lead offensively. Macey Kiewiet pitched the complete game with 11 strikeouts and two walks. Charlee Rosonke led the Tigers with two hits.
