Washington softball season ends at Oskaloosa

OSKALOOSA — While Thursday’s Class 4A postseason 8-3 loss to Oskaloosa also meant the end of the Demon careers of Kellie Dallmeyer, Emma Herr and Cameron Malichky, it is also the beginning of some young talent mixed with seasoned veterans for next year.

Eighth-graders Ella Greiner, Isabella Salazar and Halle Cuddeback made an impact with freshmen Emmy Wenger and sophomore Haley Mitchell. Next year’s seniors for the Demons will be Ava Turner, Elyse Hunt, RyLee Fishback and Olivia Hamilton.

Dallmeyer, Greiner and Herr had two hits apiece Thursday.

“We hit the ball hard against (Oskaloosa pitcher Faith) DeRonde (complete game, seven hits, two earned runs, three walks, five Ks), who is a really good pitcher,” Dallmeyer said. “We just didn’t get runners in when we needed.”

Turner, Wenger and Greiner each batted in a Demon run. Dallmeyer, Hunt and Malichky scored a run each. Salazar pitched the first inning and three batters in the second, giving up eight hits and five runs. Cuddeback threw the final five innings with eight hits, two earned runs, and a walk with two Ks.

“They just had Bella timed up, then Halle came in and held them to three runs,” WHS coach Ben Obermann said. “We had opportunities at the plate.”

While the Demons (20-17) had 90 errors, with 39 errors Oskaloosa (20-14) is one of the top five defensive teams and “we put pressure on them, but there shouldn’t be two 20-win teams playing in the first round.”

“The future is bright,” said Dallmeyer, who struck out just four times this year, finished third in 4A in hits with 64, fourth in on-base percentage (. 621), seventh in runs (48), seventh in doubles (15), 13th in home runs (8), seventh in slugging percentage (. 917), eighth in batting average (. 529) and runs batted in (43). “This will be a dangerous team next year.”

Dallmeyer holds numerous team records including home runs in a season. “Somebody will beat it, at least that’s my hope.”

“If somebody comes along that can do that, it will take one heck of a player, that’s for sure,” Obermann said.