Adams earns 800th win
MASON CITY — Fort Dodge head softball coach Andi Adams hit another career milestone here Thursday night.
With a doubleheader sweep of rival Mason City, Adams recorded her 799th and 800th victories, as the third-ranked (Class 4A) Dodgers won, 15-1 in three innings and 9-5.
“It is cool to be among the company with a lot of wins in the coaching ranks,” Adams said. “When I started 24 years ago, I never thought that this would be a possibility. It’s fun to do it (get 800) with this team. A team that gets along and understands the legacy and Dodger softball.
“We continue to build the Dodger dynasty and we do it from the bottom up, doing the little things right.”
Fort Dodge jumped on the Riverhawks early in the opener, scoring four in the first, four in the second and seven in the third. Mackenzie McIlrath was 2-for-2 with four RBI and two runs, Lucy Porter and Macy Brown each drove in three, and Meah McCaleb scored three times with two hits and an RBI.
Hope Alstott scored twice and both Brown and Ashlyn Willis each recorded two hits.
Porter struck out three in three innings, allowing just three hits.
“After we talked on (Wednesday night), they literally took everything to heart,” Adams said. “They played awesome and we adjusted to their pitching.”
In the nightcap, a five-run fourth helped lift the Dodgers to the sweep. Porter and Ellie Doster each had two RBI with Alstott adding two hits, two runs and an RBI.
McCaleb scored twice and both Porter and Brown recorded two hits each.
Aubrey Alstott tossed the first six innings, earning the win with three strikeouts. Porter came on to finish it out, striking out two of the three batters she faced.
“I want every young player to know that being a good outfielder is very important,” Adams said. “It is a position that is hard to play.
“We had players step up and that is huge. Lucy wanted the ball in the second game to come and shut the door.”
Fort Dodge heads to the West Des Moines Valley Shootout on Saturday to face seventh-ranked Dallas Center-Grimes at 8:30 a.m. and Urbandale at noon.