You could say that this summer has been a success so far for Woodward-Granger. (Events covered June 11-16)
Golf
While this comes from the previous week, it bears sharing the full extent of the performance from Max Behrens and Mallory Polito at this year’s Class 1A co-ed state golf meet. Behrens and Polito combined with a score of 77 for third place, two shots behind first-place Grundy Center.
That beat out over three dozen other pairs that participated from all over the state. Landon Chambers and Ella Chambers also took 24th place with a score of 86.
Third place is the single-best finish by a pair from Woodward-Granger at the co-ed meet. And behind the raw number, they were actually tied for second but were beaten on an alternate shot format by Grundy Center (which also had the winning pair).
Softball (11-4)
Six wins in a row have pulled the Hawks to match last year’s 11 total wins. It’s the program’s single-most dominant stretch since winning seven straight back in 2016 (Woodward had 11 wins in 12 games as well that year and finished with a 20-13 record).
With a .733 winning percentage, Woodward-Granger is on pace for its best season since going 35-5 in the 2010 season.
Taking wins over Greene County earlier in the week, and three teams at Saturday’s Underwood tournament, pitcher Olivia Lantz recorded 26 more strikeouts. That pushed her up to 114 Ks on the season, the second-most by a Class 2A player so far this season.
Also moving up the leaderboard, Andrea Nardini had a season-high three hits in a 6-1 win over Westwood, moving her batting average up to a team-high .388 and now leads the team with 17 RBI, just five fewer than her total last year as a sophomore.
Baseball (5-9)
Woodward’s win streak was cut at three games, with Grand View Christian coming through with a 14-2 win on June 12 against the visiting Hawks. The bus stayed warm for a trip to South Hardin and a 9-5 loss the next night.
While that marked consecutive losses, the Hawks saw season-best work from sophomore pitcher Jace Ozbun, who struck out seven batters and allowed just one earned run. That’s the third-most strikeouts on the team this season.
With a lightened workload thanks to the Grand View game ending after four innings despite scoring first, the Hawks also saw improvement from Shaefer Hanson at the plate.
Getting on base in his two plate appearances, Hanson now owns a .486 batting average. That not only sits 15th among Class 2A batters this year but towers over his .253 mark as a junior.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Woodward-Granger golf duo has team-best finish, softball on historic pace
Reporting by Sean Cordy / Des Moines Register
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
