A 2-0 day in Stanhope at the South Hamilton Tournament has Greene County softball in position for a winning season, something the program hasn’t accomplished since 2016. Coach Tom Kennedy’s Rams likely won’t have an easy time recording more wins than losses, but they’ll enter the final week of the regular season with 10 wins and 11 losses with home games Monday vs. Perry, Tuesday against Southeast Valley (Gowrie), and Wednesday with Nevada. The postseason in Class 3A starts on July 6 in Harcourt vs. the same SEV team they host on June 28.

The SH tourney was scheduled for three games, but the Jewell portion was rained out, so only the three teams at Stanhope played with the Rams going 2-0, West Marshall (State Center) 1-1, and Algona 0-2. WM started the day with a 7-3 win vs. the Bulldogs, followed by the Rams over WM 4-1, and Greene County winning 2-1 vs. the Bulldogs.

Junior Emma Hoyle had quite a day in the pitching circle. She threw all 14 innings, allowing only two runs, both unearned, while striking out 22 batters (11 in each game). Hoyle walked just five, allowed only five hits, and hit no one with a pitch.

Greene County was charged with just one error per game, leading to both opposition runs. The Rams had 15 hits combined, all singles, and only five left the infield. Slap-hitter Alexa Peters had three hits on the day with two each from slappers Olivia Shannon, Chanlyn Cunningham and Payton Kokenge, along with Emma Hoyle, Emma Stream, and Paige Teeples.

In game one vs. WM, the Rams led 4-0 before the Trojans scored an unearned run in the bottom of the seventh. Game two saw the Rams break a 1-1 tie with Algona on a Carmyn Paup SAC fly. The seventh inning of game two was played with each team starting the frame with a runner at second base and no outs. Other Rams with runs batted in on the day were Grace Hardaway, and Stream.