The Oskaloosa Indian softball team had themselves a great opening night of the season on the road against CMB, a doubleheader you heard right here on the Mahaska Zone Network. Osky got the sweep with wins of 6-0 and 4-0.

In game one, it was sophomore pitcher Alexis Groet leading the charge, allowing only two hits and one walk while striking out 14. The two-time all-state selection cruised to the shutout win with only 93 pitches. Offensively, freshman Anna Jones was the new leadoff hitter in her first varsity start. She made a big impact, going 3 for 4 and scoring 2 runs. Peyton Zickefoose had a team high three RBI in the win.

In game two, Kylee Silliman nearly matched Groet’s substantial strikeout total, finishing with 12 Ks in her complete game shutout. Silliman did allow five hits and three walks and had to get through a few jams late in the game, but did not yield a run, stranding eight CMB runners on base. Offensively, eight Indians grabbed nine hits, including three players driving in the four runs with clutch two-out RBI. In the second inning, freshmen Josie Bunnell and Anna Jones hit back-to-back two-out singles to plate the first three runs, and in the fifth, sophomore Alexis Westercamp had an RBI triple to add an insurance run.

In a new development, Oskaloosa became thieves on the basepaths, stealing a total of ten bases on twelve attempts. For some perspective on these inflated numbers, last season Oskaloosa stole a total of 34 bases on 43 attempts in 42 games all season long.

Coach Jay Harms and his new aggressive style will be tested on Saturday at the Jim Turner Classic in Williamsburg, as his first opponent will be Bondurant-Farrar, who finished as the Class 3A state runner-up last year, losing in the title game by only one run. The second game will be against Lone Tree. Our broadcast of that tournament will begin at 8:45 AM for the 9 AM first pitch on 99.5 FM and AM 740 KMZN and on kboeradio.com. Emery Songer and Katelyn Buckalew will be on the call.