Raiderettes win opener in thriller

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The Mount Ayr Raiderettes began the 2025 softball season last week, highlighted by a comeback win at East Union to earn their first win in their first game.
The Raiderettes beat East Union 8-7 in the first of three games last week against Pride of Iowa Conference teams. The Raiderettes fell 12-9 in nine innings at home to Nodaway Valley and then ended the week with a road loss at state-ranked SE Warren.
Mount Ayr will embark on a three-game road trip this week, concluding on Friday, when they return home to face Lenox. Mount Ayr played at Central Decatur on Tuesday, June 3, and at Lamoni on Wednesday, June 4. Mount Ayr is to play at Clarke on June 5 before returning home to play Lenox on Friday.
The Raiderettes play starts next week at Murray on June 9 and at state-ranked Martensdale-St. Mary’s on June 10.
The week started with an 8-7 win at East Union. The Raiderettes broke a scoreless game in the top of the third inning with three runs to take a 3-0 lead after the third inning. East Union would tie the game with a run in the fourth and two more in the fifth. East Union would take their first lead after six innings, 6-3, with a three-run bottom of the sixth. Mount Ayr rallied in the top of the seventh, scoring five times to take an 8-6 lead. East Union tried to come back in the bottom of the seventh, scoring one run to get the score to 8-7, and the tying run was on base when the final out was recorded.
Mount Ayr was led at the plate by Dannie Stewart and Kensie Barnes with three hits each. Barnes had two RBI’s while seven different Raiderettes had RBI’s in the game. Keely Wasteney pitched all seven innings and struck out five and walked five batters. She gave up seven runs on eight hits
East Union had eight hits in the game by eight different Eagles. Quynn Foster, Kayli Shade, Alleah Cunningham, Cheyenne Dike, and Katy Gennaro all had RBI hits. Dike and Gennaro each had doubles in the game. Tristin Lear pitched seven innings and struck out 11 batters for the Eagles.
In their next game, Mount Ayr took a 2-0 lead in the first inning in their home opener with Nodaway Valley on a two-out, two-run home run by Breya Nickle. The Wolverines tied the game at 2-2 in the top of the second inning. A two-run hit by Chloe Rardin scored Carter Osborn and Addy Glade, who both reached base via errors.
After Mount Ayr grabbed a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the second, Nodaway Valley got a one-out, two-run single by Emma Boswell, scoring Mattison Thompson and Taylor Laughery, who reached base by walk and hit in the inning to tie the game at 4 after three innings.
Boswell crushed a solo home run in the top of the fifth to give the Wolverine’s lead of 5-4. The lead would swell to 8-4 with a three-run top of the sixth by NV. The big hit was a 2-run triple by Mattison Thompson, scoring Lea Stonebraker and Rardin. Thompson would score on a sac fly from Laughery.
Mount Ayr came back, scoring four runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to send the game to extra innings. The Raiderettes sent ten batters to the plate and had two hits in the inning, and had five batters reach on walks. Mount Ayr had runners in scoring position that represented the winning run, but Ella Boswell struck out Tatum Friedrich to end the inning.
Nodaway Valley was retired in order at the top of the eighth for the first time in the game, and Mount Ayr had a runner on third with one out in the bottom of the inning, but Boswell’s 10th strikeout and a coaxed fly out by Emma Reynolds got NV out of the jam.
Nodaway Valley sent eight batters to the plate in the top of the ninth. The first five batters in the inning got on base. Big hits in the inning were a RBI double by Ella Boswell to give NV a 9-8 lead, and a 2-run single by Stonebraker to give the Wolverines an 11-8 lead. Carter Osborn also drove in a run with a sac fly to give NV 12 runs.
Mount Ayr pushed a run across in the bottom of the ninth on a Keeley Wasteny hit, but Mount Ayr had a base running blunder for the second out of the inning, and Friedrich struck out for the final out of the inning.
The win was the first victory over a Mount Ayr team since the 2017 season. A span of 15 games. Of those games, six were mercy rule wins by the Raiderettes. The two teams played an extra-inning game last year in an 8-7 Mount Ayr win. The Raiderettes then beat NV 6-3 in Greenfield later in the summer.
Mount Ayr had nine hits in the game with two players having multi-hit games. Emma Reynolds and Kensie Barnes each had two hits and a RBI. Nickle had a two-run home run and a pair of RBI’s. Other Mount Ayr hits were from Tatum Friedrich, Wasteney, Stewart, and MaKel Jones.
Ella Boswell picked up a win in her Nodaway Valley debut. Boswell had a record of 6-7 last year at Orient-Macksburg as an eighth grader and evened her overall record to 7-7 with the win. Boswell struck out 11 Radierettes and walked 14 batters. She gave up nine runs on eight hits in the game.
The Wolverines out-hit Mount Ayr 10 to 8 in the game. Mattison Thompson, Taylor Laughery, Emma Boswell, and Ella Boswell each had two hits in the game. Emma Boswell had three RBI’s and Thompson had 2 RBI’s. Lea Stonebraker and Chloe Rardin each had a pair RBI’s and a hit in the game.
The week ended with an 11-3 loss at Class 1A No. 7 state-ranked SE Warren in Liberty Center. Mount Ayr scored the first run of the game in the top of the first inning. A RBI single by Keeley Wasteney scored Anna Greenland for the 1-0 lead.
SE Warren would take control of the game with a five-run bottom of the first inning to take a 5-1 lead. RBI singles from Lexi Clendenen, Kiara Wallace, and Kate Logue, along with an RBI on a sac fly from Lola Schriver were the RBI’s in the inning. Mount Ayr fought back with two runs in the top of the second inning. Mount Ayr’s MaKel Jones smashed a two-run home run to cut the Warhawks lead to 5-3. That would be as close as the Raiderettes could get as SE Warren would score six unanswered runs the rest of the way to win 11-3. The win was the sixth straight for the Warhawks between the two schools.
Mount Ayr had six hits in the game, led by Keely Wasteney, who was 2-for-3 with an RBI. MaKel Jones had a home run and 2 RBI’s. Other hits came from Kensie Barnes, Anna Greenland, and Emma Reynolds. Kensie Barnes started and pitched for her first start of the season. Barnes took the loss after four and two-thirds innings. Barnes had one strikeout, three walks, and gave up 11 runs on 14 hits.
SE Warren had 12 hits in the game had was led by Jaycee Neer, who was 3-for-3 with 3 doubles, and Kiara Wallace, who was 3-for-3 with an RBI. Madison Olsasky and Lexi Clendenen each had two hits. Clendenen was the winning pitcher after working five innings. She struck out five and gave up three runs, 1 earned.