Re-match: Indians to face top-ranked Spartans

By: 
Kristi Nixon

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FORT DODGE — Emma Poppe is used to the attention by now.
 
Her older sister Maddie, of American Idol fame, was in the crowd supporting her as she led off the fourth inning with a double and scored the only run for third-ranked Clarksville in the Indians’ Class 1A semifinal win over Lisbon today (Wednesday, July 24) at Rogers Park in Fort Dodge.
 
“It’s great for her to take time out of her schedule to come watch me and support me, it’s nice for her to be here,” the junior first baseman said, who had a request for her elder sibling’s hit, “Going, Going, Gone” before the seventh inning was over.
 
“It’s happened a lot,” Emma Poppe said of the songs being played at games. “It plays a lot wherever we go. I’m used to it. I’m just here to play the game, focus on my team and the sport.”
 
Indeed, she was focused, taking to heart her second inning strikeout to record one of five hits off of Lisbon’s Skylar Sadler.
 
“She was throwing a lot of outside and low, the first time I struck out and I was like, ‘I am not doing this again, I have to get a hit,’” Emma Poppe said. “So, that’s what I did. I just followed the ball.”
 
After a sacrifice bunt by Chloe Ross, Bailey Myers came through with an RBI single to right.
 
“It was really exciting,” Myers said. “I mean, (coach) Katie (Wedeking) asked me what I wanted to do and I was nervous, didn’t know what I wanted to do: if I wanted to lay down a bunt or just hit. I just told her, ‘you know, I’m just going to swing.’ It’s just going to happen. And that happened and I…yeah…scored a run.”
 
The win advances the Indians to a re-match against top-ranked Collins-Maxwell, Clarksville’s only loss this season. The Indians lost 1-0 in eight innings in a cross-divisional Iowa Star Conference game at Clarksville on June 25.
 
“We talked about this: The girls want to beat Collins-Maxwell,” coach Wedeking said. “I hope we’re not overlooking them too much..."
 
The rest of this story and more photos will appear in the August 1 print edition of the Clarksville Star.

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