Newell-Fonda sweeps Kingsley-Pierson tourney with dominant softball wins

Newell-Fonda did more than collect two wins at the Kingsley-Pierson Tournament. The Class 1A No. 7 Mustangs knocked off Class 2A No. 3 West Lyon 9-0 and then beat Akron-Westfield 12-3, a weekend that made them look less like an early-season surprise and more like a team built to matter in July.

Against West Lyon, Newell-Fonda came out fast and never let the game settle in. The Mustangs scored two runs in the first inning, three in the second and four in the third, turning a matchup with one of the state’s stronger recent Class 2A programs into a run-rule style statement. Newell-Fonda finished with nine hits, led by three singles from Quinn Sievers. Jocee Walsh added a home run and a single, Vienna Wingert singled twice, and Ellie Sievers and Camryn Puhrmann each added a hit. Walsh and Puhrmann drove in two runs apiece, Quinn Sievers added an RBI, and Walsh handled the game in the circle with one hit allowed, one walk and four strikeouts in five innings.

The second game carried the same pattern, with Newell-Fonda waiting until the middle innings and then opening things up. The Mustangs put up four runs in the third and five more in the fourth to pull away from Akron-Westfield, finishing with 14 hits in the 12-3 win. Quinn Sievers and Paige Erickson each had three hits, Ellie Sievers and Wingert added two apiece, and Puhrmann, Walsh and McKayla Hanson each contributed a hit. Erickson drove in three runs, while Hanson, Ellie Sievers and Bailey Mandernach each knocked in two. Erickson also scored three runs, and Wingert and Mandernach scored twice each. Ellie Sievers earned the pitching win, allowing five hits and one earned run while walking one and striking out four in five innings.

For coach Chad Hinders, the weekend backed up the work Newell-Fonda has been putting in on the basics. He pointed to the team’s focus on fundamentals in practice and said the players were carrying it onto the field, with Walsh’s two-run homer providing an early spark in the opener and both Walsh and Ellie Sievers delivering the kind of pitching that can anchor a tournament team.

That combination matters because Newell-Fonda is not leaning on one star or one inning. The roster includes freshmen Quinn Sievers and Paige Erickson and several underclass regulars, including Ellie Sievers, Bailey Mandernach, Vienna Wingert, Danika Meyer and McKayla Hanson. Bound stats show the Mustangs have already built a strong batting line and a staff ERA under 2.00, which fits the evidence from Kingsley-Pierson: this was a sweep powered by depth, timely hitting and enough pitching to silence a top-ranked opponent. With the summer schedule still young and the state tournament set for Fort Dodge in late July, Newell-Fonda’s weekend looked like a warning shot to the rest of Class 1A.