Greene County and Ft. Dodge St. Edmond met in non-conference softball Thursday night at Rogers Park, the site of the State Tournament next month with the Rams winning by a score of 8-1. The contest was broadcast on KG98 and streamed on www.racoonvalleyradio.com. The Rams are 12-4 and winners of six straight contests while the Gaels, ranked sixth in Class 1A, fall to 14-6 and have dropped four straight. Greene County joined the 3A top 15 at number 14 in Thursday’s Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union rankings.

The Rams scored two runs in the second inning, five in the fifth, and one in the seventh. The Gaels picked up a seventh inning run after trailing 8-0. Emma Hoyle became the Greene County program’s strikeout leader with six on the night and now has 564 in her career, surpassing the 561 of 2015 grad Marissa Promes. Hoyle allowed four hits, just one out of the infield, walked one, and did not hit a batter.

Greene County had 11 hits off  losing pitcher Faith Shirbroun. The only extra base hit in the game came from eighth grader Sara Morlan who tripled down the left field line for her first extra base hit as a varsity player. Hoyle, Alexa Peters, and Becca Anderson each had two hits with one each by Olivia Shannon, Payton Kokenge, Paige Teeples, and CC Cunningham. Runs batted in went to Peters, Hoyle, Anderson, K0kenge. and Teeples. Greene County bunted more than usual and it paid off. Batters one through five bunted in the five run fifth with four of the five reaching base and scoring runs.

Greene County is off today and goes to the Denison-Schleswig tournament tomorrow in Denison.