Le Mars Community softball celebrated their senior night with a pair of wins and a career milestone as the Bulldogs beat Council Bluffs TJ by scores of 8-3 and 8-1.
The second game of the doubleheader saw Brenna Leraas strikeout 12 Yellow Jackets and run her high school career total to 501. That breaks the previous record set by Molly Renken of 495 during her career that concluded in 2013. Leraas says the record is special to her because the program means so much to her.
The milestone was made extra special since it happened during senior night. The Bulldogs recognized five seniors including Leraas during the festivities. Leraas says it is cool to think about the growth that it took to get to this point.
Le Mars head coach Brooke Berkenpas has been calling Leraas’ pitches for the last three years as her head coach. She says no one works harder in the circle to get what she wants than Leraas.
Leraas’ growth has turned her from a serviceable pitcher as an underclassman to one of the more dominant arms in the area. During last year’s record-setting 271-strikeout season, Leraas powered through hitters more often. Coach Berkenpas says she is now utilizing a bigger bag of tricks this year as a senior.
Leraas’ record-shattering moment captured the attention of the night, but the Bulldogs played a great set of games as a team. Kylie Hofmann pitched a great first game to keep the Yellow Jackets at bay, and every Bulldog hitter in the lineup had at least one hit in game two. Coach Berkenpas says having the bottom portion of the lineup come through lately will be big heading into the tournament.
The Bulldogs are also in contention for a Missouri River Activities Conference title and have a big doubleheader Thursday that could help dictate if that happens. Leraas says the week has started off strong, and the Bulldogs need to keep that energy up for East on Thursday.
After the Bulldogs play East, they will head to Spencer to see a couple of Class 4A schools in Spencer and Storm Lake as well as Class 3A Sioux Center and No. 3 in 1A Newell-Fonda. Coach Berkenpas says every game down the stretch means something, and the Bulldogs have to put forth their best during these final games of the regular season.
Le Mars and Sioux City East will matchup starting at 5:30 PM on Thursday in Sioux City. The Black Raiders have a two-game lead over the Bulldogs in the loss column for first place in the MRAC.
