Red Oak’s softball season comes to an end

The Red Oak softball team’s season came to an end Thursday in an 11-0 loss to Des Moines Christian in the Class 3A, Region 3 quarterfinal in Des Moines.
The Lions (16-9) got on the board early with a four-run first inning. They closed out the victory with a three-run home run by Amya Patrick to end the game by “mercy rule” in the fourth inning.
Pitcher Allie Harrigan was in control in the circle all night for the Lions, tossing a no-hitter.
“Tough outing that was inevitably our final outing of the season against a very solid DMC team,” said Red Oak coach Alec Ruskell. “Their number one pitcher was what I thought she would be based on stats, and she was a very tight zoned solid speed pitcher with some movement and hats off to her for a great performance on the mound keeping us off balance.”
The result wasn’t what Ruskell hoped for, but the coach was happy with how his team played, especially in the field.
“Defensively we did things the right way with a few errors but otherwise very clean performance, the game went DMC’s way in a softball game piecing things together and exploding for runs here and there,” Ruskell said.
Kenzie Wilcoxson took the loss for the Tigers in the finale.
The Tigers finish out their season with a record of 5-26.
“I can’t stress enough how proud of the girls the coaching staff and I are of the fight they gave all year,” Ruskell said of his young team that included just one senior on the roster. “They took every opportunity to learn and improve, starting this very young team’s very bright future in the final year of a stout Hawkeye 10 schedule.
“It was an honor to be able to coach them and hopefully have been able to teach them a thing or two to prepare them for the future of what I can only assume will be a team to remember.”

Tigers fall in district championship
Underwood used a big second inning to pull away and end Red Oak’s postseason run in a 7-2 victory in the Class 2A, District 16 baseball finals in Underwood Saturday night.
The Tigers were seeking their third straight postseason win when the Eagles (22-4) pushed five runs across in the second frame. The lead was all starting pitcher Blake Brensel and reliever Hudson Ross would need. Brensen would earn the win after holding Red Oak without a run for the first four innings while striking out four and scattering two hits and a run across five frames. Ross came on to pitch the final two innings.
Red Oak coach Tristin Johnson called the loss a tough one for his team.
“We pitched well and were hitting the ball but were right to the Underwood players,” said the coach. “Credit Underwood. They did a great job making plays and did enough to score some runs tonight.”
Starting on the mound for the Tigers in the district championship was Reese Montgomery. The junior went one and 2/3 innings giving up five runs (0 earned) on five hits, with one walk and two strikeouts. Carson Roeder came on in relief and finished the game going four and 1/3 innings giving up three hits and five walks while fanning seven. All seven of the Eagles runs were of the unearned variety.
At the plate Dalton Ferree, Masen Fisher, Osiel Pedersen and Carson Roeder notched hits. Seth Lydon and Brayton Adams each scored two runs.
“I’m proud of the guys for how far they have come this year and what they were able to accomplish in the postseason,” Johnson said. “It is hard to reach a district championship especially as a No. 6 seed having to beat the No. 3 and No. 2 seeds.” 
 The loss ends the Tigers season with a record of 8-20.
“We will miss our two seniors from this year, Masen Fisher and Cale Hall, but have high hopes for this team returning all the rest for next season,” Johnsons said.

Red Oak 3,
Shenandoah 2
Red Oak avenged two regular season losses with a 3-2 victory in the Class 2A, District 16 semifinals in Underwood last Tuesday.
The Tigers dropped decisions to the Mustangs (12-13) by scores of 6-2 and 15-0 earlier this season before scoring all three of their runs in a fourth inning rally and getting a gem of a complete game pitching performance from Osiel Pedersen on the mound in last week’s win.
“We had all three aspects of the game,” said Red Oak coach Tristin Johnson. “We hit well enough, we made plays, and Osiel Pedersen was great on the mound. After being swept by Shenandoah in the regular season we knew we’d have to play well to make it a game, and I was proud of the boys for showing who they are. We played with a lot of energy tonight and talked well both in the dugout and on the field.”
Pedersen allowed just two runs, seven hits and three walks while striking out seven in the win.
“He did what Osiel does: throws lots of strikes and mixes up the pitches and movement to keep hitters off balance,” Johnson said. “He throws to contact and trusts our defense to make pays. Every player either assisted or had a putout tonight.”
At the plate, the Tigers hit just well enough to get the job done. In all they had five hits, led by Kaleb Sebeniecher’s two hits. Hudson Fisher and Dalton Ferree each singled and drove in runs.
“Overall, I’m just super proud of the guys’ mentality in these games. We’ve been in some jams, and we continue to work ourselves out of them on minimal damage,” Johnson said. “Shen got the winning run to second in the seventh before we stranded him there.”
Logan Twyman took the loss for Shenandoah. The senior allowed five hits and one earned run while striking out 11.

Red Oak 8,
Treynor 5
Red Oak built an early lead and never let Treynor rally back in an 8-5 win in Class 2A, District 16 baseball in Treynor Monday night.
The Tigers plated two runs in the first and three more in the third to take the early 5-1 lead.
“This was a great team win tonight,” said Red Oak coach Tristin Johnson. “
“The pitching was good and efficient, hitting was really good tonight and fielding was good. When we put all three together, we are a very good team. Our approach at the plate was the key difference for us tonight and we saw that with the eight hits and eight runs in the game.”
Red Oak collected eight hits in the win. Kaleb Sebeniecher led the way three hits and a run driven in and Reese Montgomery had two hits and drove in two. Dalton Reese added a single and drove in a pair of runs.
Montgomery started on the hill and earned the win after tossing five innings and allowing eight hits and three earned runs while striking out three. Carson Roeder came on to pitch two scoreless innings to close out the victory.
“Reese did a fantastic job,” Johnson said. “He got the win and Carson got the save. I loved the mental toughness we showed as Treynor had opportunities to score more runs leaving 10 on base. We did a great job working out of tough jams with some great defense.”