Ankeny junior Abby Rusher earned a scholarship to play softball at Creighton primarily due to her potential as a pitcher.
On Tuesday, the hard-throwing righthander demonstrated her prowess as a clutch hitter, too.
Rusher hit a three-run homer in the sixth inning to give the fourth-ranked Hawkettes a 3-2 victory in a non-conference game at Indianola, the No. 1 team in Class 4A.
“I wanted to keep the rally going,” said Rusher, who is now batting .431 with 19 RBIs. “I was just looking for a pitch that I could drive. She pitched me inside, and I just trusted my mechanics and hit the ball where it was pitched.”
Rusher’s first home run of the season came off Indianola sophomore Izzie Benge.
“Abby’s really growing as a hitter,” said Ankeny coach Dave Bingham. “She can hit the ball to all fields, and now she’s recognizing balls that she can really jump on. That’s a bonus anytime you can get a home run, but she’s got home run power.”
It was the seventh straight win for Ankeny (16-4), which played for the second straight night without leading hitter Cassie Johnson. Johnson left the first game of Monday’s doubleheader at No. 2 Valley due to an illness.
Without Johnson in the leadoff spot, Rusher again batted in the 3 hole behind Larissa Miller and Kendra Lewis. In the sixth, Miller and Lewis reached base before Rusher connected for the game-winning homer.
“I didn’t think it was gone,” Rusher said. “I knew I hit it hard, but I was very pleased to see it go over the fence.”
Rusher (12-2) was also the winning pitcher. She tossed a two-hitter and had 13 strikeouts.
Indianola (15-6) took a 2-0 lead with a pair of unearned runs in the fourth inning. Jordyn Gripp drove in both of the Indians’ runs.
“Abby was pitching well, but they got a base hit on a bunt and we probably botched the coverage a little bit, and that led to a couple more errors,” Bingham said. “After that, we just kind of hung in there.”
Two innings later, Rusher changed the momentum of the game with one swing of the bat.
“She got on one and hit it out of the park,” Bingham said. “You could really feel it after she hit that home run it was game over. They made a little bit of a threat, but we played much better down the stretch.
“It’s nice to go on runs, and I think we’re finding ways to win games in all kinds of ways. Tonight was pretty good,” he added.
Rusher went 2-for-3 and also had a double, her fifth of the season. Miller went 2-for-4 and stole a base, while Rylee Riesberg went 2-for-3 with a double.
The Hawkettes will host a CIML Conference doubleheader against Waukee (4-13) on Thursday.
