Marion Softball

Ryan sparks Linn-Mar past Marion

Maddy Ryan pitched a complete game and drove in three runs Friday night as Linn-Mar defeated Marion, 9-3, in a softball game at Marion.

Ryan tossed a six-hitter with seven strikeouts and allowed two earned runs. Linn-Mar (2-1) scored six runs in the top of the third inning to grab a 9-1 lead.

Kortlan Ollinger, Kelsey Duggan, Madison Rentschler and Courtney Bodensteiner had two hits for the Lions.

Haley Vanourney collected two doubles for Marion. Beth Knapp also had two hits for the Indians.

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Fiser, Drahozal, Schulte are Barracudas

Amber Fiser is just 14 years old has not taken a single class at Marion High School yet, but she's already established herself as one of the top athletes in the building.

Fiser excelled as an eighth grader on the Marion softball team this season as a pitcher and hitter, earning spots on the all-Wamac and all-Metro honor squads.

Another honor has come her way this summer as well: Fiser has been selected to play on the 18-and-under Barracudas Gold elite softball team that will compete in tournaments in Orlando, Chicago, St. Louis and Las Vegas this fall and winter.

Erin Drahozal and Jenna Schulte, two of the top players at Xavier High School, will be Fiser's teammates on the Barracudas, who draw their players from around Eastern Iowa.

Fiser competed against older girls during the high school season and does not sound intimidated about playing on an 18U club.

"Somehow I'll manage," she said Sunday. "I'll be fine. I've had a lot of really good competition so far."

Drahozal, a pitcher and designated hitter, just finished her freshman campaign with the Saints and is joining the Barracudas Gold for the first time. Schulte, a first baseman, finished her junior season at Xavier and has played for the Barracudas Gold in prior years.

Fiser made the Barracudas as a 14-year-old eighth grader.

"It's actually quite unusual," said Barracudas Gold Coach Ken Thimmesch. "She's proven to have that ability. It's a question of maturity. Can she handle the pressure at this level?

"Her athletic ability is second-to-none at this point. Can she pitch against that caliber of competition? We think she can, or we wouldn't have given her this opportunity."

There are only 11 girls on the team, so roster spots are hard to get. The coaches in the Barracudas organization scout the girls and hold tryouts.

"We follow them around and watch them during the high school season," said Thimmesch.

Fiser hit .342 for Marion and compiled a 10-8 record on the mound with a 2.05 earned run average. She made first team all-Wamac and second team all-Metro. She struck out 193 batters in 140 innings pitched.

Schulte hit .299 with six homers and 46 RBIs for Xavier and played excellent defense at first base. She joined Fiser as second team all-Metro.

Drahozal, who played for Xavier last year as an eighth grader, hit .313 with three homers and 45 RBIs for the Saints this season and compiled a 12-8 mark as a pitcher with a 2.97 ERA. She struck our 65 batters in 132 innings and received Honorable Mention on the all-Metro team.

Fiser said she feels "really good" about making the Barracudas Gold outfit. "It will be a good experience playing against girls ahead of me in school," she said.

Fiser will not celebrate her 15th birthday until February. She anticipated making the Marion varsity this year after Marion Coach Kim Knapp talked to her before the season began about getting a varsity jersey and gear. Even so, playing for the varsity before she'd actually taken a class at Marion was an adjustment.

"It was kind of awkward. But, oh well," she remarked. "I was really happy to make varsity, because I knew it would be tougher competition. I'm kind of used to it."

Fiser has played for younger teams in the Barracudas organization and also played for the Blue Devils, an elite softball team that's based in Cedar Rapids. She's taken pitching lessons from Ben Sorden, who is the head softball coach at Solon High School and an assistant coach at Coe College.

Fiser is proud of what she accomplished as an eighth grader for the Indians this season.

"I feel good. I was kind of shocked," she said. "I can't wait until next year to get better."

5 Indians make Wamac softball team

Amber Fiser, Beth Knapp and Michalyn Mohr from the Marion High School softball team have been named second team all-conference in the West Division of the Wamac.

Paige Perkins and Haley Vanourney of Marion received honorable mention.

The Indians finished 24-15 overall this season and 8-10 in the West Division, tied for fifth place with Benton Community.

Fiser, a graduated eighth grader, made the all-conference team as a pitcher. Knapp, a junior, was selected as an infielder. Mohr, a freshman, was named as a utility player.

Marion ousted from softball tourney by Wahlert

Dubuque Wahlert put up two runs in the first inning, added an insurance run in the top of the seventh and held on to upset Marion, 3-2, in a Class 4A regional first round game Thursday night at Marion.

Wahlert (16-24) advances to play Xavier in the regional semifinals Saturday at 7 p.m. at Xavier.

Run-producing singles by Anna Schmidt and Maddy Nillis gave Wahlert a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning. Marion's Michalyn Mohr got one of those back with an RBI double in the bottom of the inning and that was where the score stayed until the seventh inning.

Mohr and Malea Brown each collected two hits to lead the eight-hit Indian attack.

“I got an outside pitch and just went with it on that double,” said Mohr. “The bunt single I got in the sixth was just the second time I had been asked to bunt all season and it ended up being a hit.”

Eighth grade pitcher Amber Fiser came in to pitch for Marion in the third inning in relief of Michayla Goemaat and struck out 10 batters in five innings of work.

“My pitchers were working pretty good,” said Fiser. “My rise ball was really on all night long.”

The visiting Golden Eagles put up an unearned run in the top of the seventh.

Marion mounted an exciting comeback in the bottom of the seventh that plated one run. But the Indians left the bases loaded to end the game.

“It was disappointing but it has been a great season,” said Marion Coach Kim Knapp.  “We made some youthful mistakes and didn’t execute as well as we could have in some critical moments during the game, but we played hard and we were competitive.  We will be back next year with a lot of the same girls you saw playing here tonight.”

Marion finished the year with a 24-16 mark.

DUBUQUE WAHLERT (3)
McAllister cf, 4 1 1 0, Schmidt 2b, 3 1 2 1, Nillis  ss, 4 0 1 1, Tath p, 4 0 1 0, Ball c, 2 0 0 0, Link lf, 2 0 0 0, Koppes 1b, 3 0 0 0, Naumann, 3b, 3 0 0 0, Callahan rf, 2 1 0 0.  Totals 32 3 5 2.

MARION (2)
Scott rf, 3 0 1 0, Vanourney 3b, 3 1 1 0, Knapp 1b, 3 0 1 0, Mohr ss, 4 1 2 1, Prekins c, 3 0 0 0, Goemet p, 1 0 0 0, Fiser p, 2 0 0 0, Brown dp, 3 0 2 0, Nathem, cf, 0 0 0 0, Dullea pr, 0 1 0 0, Whitney 2b, 1 0 0 0, Rausch 2b. 2 0 0 0, Fuller lf, 3 0 1 0.  Totals 28 2 8 1.

Dubuque Wahlert    200 000 1 -- 3 5 1
Marion                   100 000 1 --  2 8 4

Tath and Ball. Goemaat, Fiser (3) and Perkins. W - Tath. L - Goemaat. 2B - Mohr, Brown. SB - McAllister 2, Scott.