Marshalltown Bobcats

Actually, make that two bangs.

The freshman slugger crushed two home runs in the fifth inning of a 12-1 Bobcat romp over BCLUW in five innings at Dave Lee Field in Conrad.

The Bobcats scored eight runs total in the fifth inning to end the game early — Briley Danielson added a two-run home run in the hit parade.

MHS ended a six-game losing skid and improved to 4-9 overall in the last game of the first night of BCLUW’s Dave Lee Classic. Marshalltown takes on Grundy Center and South Hardin on Saturday.

Stupp had been out of the lineup with a wrist injury since after last Wednesday’s twinbill with Des Moines Lincoln.

“I was just really happy to get back into the lineup and help my team out,” Stupp said.

After being hit by a pitch in the first and grounding out in the second, Stupp led off the fifth inning with a rocket blast to center field.

Laney Danielson reached on a walk and Briley Danielson followed with her two-run round-tripper.

“I struggled with inside pitches my first two at-bats, but that time around it was perfect and I just hit the right spot and sent it out,” Briley said.

Kennedy Feldman reached on a hit by pitch and eventually came home on back-to-back singles by Aubree Mundt and Ava Kusserow. Mundt scored on a ball put in play by Gianna Baune, and two batters later, Stupp returned to the plate.

This time, Stupp cranked a missile down the left-field line for a three-run shot, the Bobcats dugout erupting as they gathered to meet her for a second time at home plate.

“I love it when that happens because that’s just a momentum builder,” Stupp said. “It just gives us good energy for the rest of the game.”

Stupp came into the game with a .353 average and is now tied with Briley and Laney Danielson for the team lead with two home runs this season.

“We missed her. Team missed her,” MHS head coach Jason Bowers said. “We’ve had a rough week against some really good teams and not having her really encapsulated the struggles this week, but we had a little BP before coming down here and she was hitting it really well.”

That scoring outburst was plenty for a Marshalltown defense that played sharp against a cunning, fast Comets team.

BCLUW scored first on an RBI groundout by Klayre Gallentine in the first inning, but the Bobcats twice tagged out Comet runners trying to extend base hits in the next two innings with heads up plays from Kennedy Feldman and Madison Rogers to put tags on Comet runners when relay throws came in from outfielders Gianna Baune and Aubree Mundt, respectively.

Bowers said MHS was humbled by No. 3 (4A) Fort Dodge the night before, absorbing the lessons from that game going into Friday.

“A team like that will expose you,” Bowers said. “They hammered us, exposed all our weaknesses. We came in tonight and we were dialed in — sometimes I’ll yell that to the girls — ‘lock in’ — but I thought they were locked in almost the entire game. Great, great relays early on, especially early in the game when that momentum might have shifted.”

The defensive plays protected a lead Marshalltown’s offense built in the second with three runs on RBIs for Kusserow, Baune and Bella Avise. A Baune sac fly RBI in the fourth had the Bobcats up 4-1 before exploding in the fifth.

That was sufficient for MHS starter Briley Danielson, with one earned run allowed on five hits with two strikeouts and a walk.

“I’ve been overthinking it a lot,” Briley said of her time in the circle. “I just have to tell myself that I know what I’m doing, I can do it, and then go in there and dominate.”

BCLUW dropped to 6-5 overall. The Comets take on South Hamilton and AGWSR on Saturday.

“We’ve been playing really good this week and we just weren’t mentally prepared,” BCLUW head coach Megan Yantis said. “I think we’ll bounce back and be ready to go tomorrow.”

MHS is ready to roll into Saturday.

“We just have to keep this same energy, same attitude, and we can have two more wins,” Briley Danielson said.