KOOSKIA — Before last Saturday, March 18, the Clearwater Valley softball girls hadn’t beaten St. Maries — and it hadn’t been close. Then, on 21 strikeouts by flamethrowing pitcher Jessica Ketola plus two key plays by senior Serenity Soun, the Rams turned their 2023 season’s first contest into a shutout victory, 1-0. Four of Ketola’s strikeouts came with two outs and runners at third base, and the one time St. Maries put the ball in play with a chance to score, Soun chased down the fly into short right field for an inning-ending catch.
Soun was in the right place at the right time for the Rams again during the bottom of the eighth, when, by tie-breaker rule, Autumn Martinez started the inning at second base and came around to score on Soun’s strike, which a St. Maries defender threw high and hard off the glove of the defender at first base.