Mixed Week For Raiderettes In Softball 

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By RYAN STONEBRAKER

MOUNT AYR, Iowa — The Mount Ayr softball team split four games last week to begin games for the summer of 2026. The Raiderettes won every other game they played winning POI games against East Union and Nodaway Valley and falling in games with Clarinda and SE Warren.
The Raiderettes record is 2-2 through four games. Mount Ayr will play Lamoni on Wednesday, at Clarke Thursday and at Lenox on Friday. On Saturday, Mount Ayr will play at the Murray softball tournament.
The East Union Eagles were the opening night foe for Mount Ayr this year and the Raiderettes dispatched them 11-1 in three innings. Mount Ayr pitching allowed only three Eagles hits in the game to their five.
Mount Ayr batted around in their order in the first inning to take an 8-1 lead. That score stood until the bottom of the third inning when they pushed three more runs home to end the game by the 10-run mercy rule.
Keeley Wasteney nearly collected a shutout on opening night in her three innings of work for the pitching win. The run she gave up was unearned. Wasteney struck out four and walked one batter.
Emma Reynolds led Mount Ayr at the plate, going 2-for-3 with a RBI and run scored. Dannie Stewart, Kensie Barnes and Wasteney all had hits. Stewart and MaKel Jones each had a pair of RBI. Barnes, Taryn Dredge and Tatum Friedrich each had RBI.
The Raiderettes played at Clarinda last Tuesday and fell 7-4. Runners left on base was the name of the game, as Mount Ayr loaded the bases three times in the game and did not score a run, including the top of the seventh when trailing 7-4. Clarinda took control of the game in the bottom of the first matching Mount Ayr’s run in the top of the inning with four of their own in the bottom of the inning. Mount Ayr cut the lead to 4-3 with single runs in the top of the third and fourth innings, but could never take the lead.
Kensie Barnes took the loss after working two innings and giving up four runs on five hits. She struck out three and did not walk a batter. Keely Wasteney pitched four innings in relief. She struck out two, walked one and gave up three runs on six hits.
Four Mount Ayr players had multi-hit games. Dannie Stewart led going 3-for-5 with a RBI. Emma Reynolds, Wasteney and Sophia West all had two hits. West, MaKel Jones and Tatum Friedrich each had RBI’s.
The Raiderettes got back on the winning track last Thursday when they outlasted Nodaway Valley 11-10 in Greenfield. The Raiderettes built an 8-2 lead after two and a half innings before Nodaway Valley came back.  Nodaway Valley briefly led 9-8 after four innings thanks in part to a four-run third and three-run fourth. Mount Ayr would take a 10-9 lead in the fifth only to have the Wolverines tie the game at 10 with a run in the bottom of the fifth. Mount Ayr would score the winning run in top of the sixth.
Nodaway Valley out-hit Mount Ayr 14 to nine, but also had more errors than the Raiderettes in the game.  Mount Ayr had two hits each from Emma Reynolds and Dannie Stewart in the game. Reynolds had a big home run and drove in four runs while Stewart, Kensie Barnes, Tatum Friedrich and Alba Friedrich each had an RBI. Other Raiderette hits were from Barnes, Keely Wasteny, MaKel Jones and both Tatum and Alba Friedrich. As a team Mount Ayr had four extra base hits.
The week ended with a tough 14-1 loss to Class 1A No. 6 SE Warren at home. The Radierettes record slipped to 2-2 with the loss. Each team scored a run in the first inning for a 1-1 game. Belle Ewing hit a home run in the top of the first and Mount Ayr answered with am RBI single from Keely Wasteney scoring Dannie Stewart to tie the game. SE Warren broke the game open in the top of the second inning with seven runs on six hits and two walks to take an 8-1 lead. That lead held until the top of the sixth when the Warhawks dropped six more runs for a 14-1 lead. The game ended after six innings.  SE Warren out-hit Mount Ayr 19 to 5 in the game.
Kensie Barnes led the Raiderettes in batting going 2-for-3. Other hits were from Stewart, Wasteney and MaKel Jones. Wasteney took the loss after working an inning and a third. Barnes pitched the final four and two-thirds innings. Barnes struck out one, walked three and gave up 13 hits.

Pride of Iowa Conference Softball Standings
As of Sunday, May 31

Team POI Overall
MTSM 3-0 4-0
Mount Ayr 2-1 2-2
Nodaway Valley 1-1 2-2
SE Warren 1-1 2-1
East Union 1-2 1-3
Wayne 0-0 2-1
Lenox 0-1 1-2
SW Valley 0-2 0-4