—Messenger photo by Britt Kudla Fort Dodge’s Tristin Doster tags out Waukee’s Delaney Taylor on Monday at Rogers Park. For more photos, visit CU at messengernews.net

The game of softball tends to humble a team when they least expect it.

Monday was Fort Dodge’s turn to take a step back and realize it doesn’t have the market cornered on the state’s early-season No. 1 ranking.

The third-rated (Class 5A) Dodgers were brought back down to earth by No. 5 Waukee, as the Warriors swept the CIML Iowa Conference opener at Rogers Park. Scores were 10-6 and 14-9 in nine innings.

Head coach Andi Adams’ squad was riding high and still unbeaten after impressive victories over 10th-ranked Johnston and No. 2 Cedar Rapids Kennedy at the West Des Moines Shootout over the weekend. But Waukee (9-0 overall) stopped FDSH (7-2) in its tracks by putting on an offensive clinic, plating 24 runs on 32 hits in the twinbill last night against a Dodger pitching staff that had allowed only six runs combined through the year’s first seven games.

“That team can hit up and down the lineup,” Adams conceded. “We played them deep (in the outfield) and they strung some soft liners and bloops together. We’d move in and they’d rip doubles into the gap. We’d shift and they’d go to the opposite field. We’d play them to pull and they’d dump it the other way.

“I had a feeling after seeing them play a few times over the weekend that there would be a lot of tough outs to get. They were averaging 10 runs per game (before Monday), and they have seven upperclassmen (five seniors and two juniors) back from a good squad (in 2018).

“This is life in the CIML, though. We have to regroup and use this as an opportunity to both get better and keep things in perspective. We’re a good team, too, but we’re still very young overall and we have a lot of improving to do. It’s a long season ahead.”

The Warriors struck first in the opener, plating five two-out runs to turn a 1-0 advantage into a 6-0 cushion in the second inning. Fort Dodge did fight its way back within 9-6 with a four-run fifth against Waukee senior standout Molly Jacobson, but Elly Bates came on in relief and quieted the Dodgers by retiring six consecutive batters over the final two innings to earn the save.

Freshman Tory Bennett was 3-for-3 in game one with a double and two runs scored. Sophomore Tristin Doster drilled a two-run double down the right-field line. Sophomore Chloe Wertz doubled and drove in three, while freshman Jalen Adams went 2-for-4.

Waukee registered at least two hits in every frame from the second through the sixth, never letting up and keeping its distance every time the Dodgers threatened.

Fort Dodge got to Bates early in the nightcap, and seemed to be well on its way to a split. The Dodgers tallied six two-out runs in the bottom of the third to open up a 7-1 advantage, with freshman pitcher Haley Wills driving in a pair on a single and Wertz, senior Daphne Alstott and Bennett all delivering RBI singles of their own to chase Bates.

Junior Olivia Ogles slowed FDSH down in relief, though, and the Warriors began to chip away at an 8-3 deficit. Four runs in the sixth and two more in the seventh turned the tide and put Waukee up 9-8 heading into the bottom of the seventh.

Bennett plated Sophia Klinger with a two-out single to force extra innings, but the Dodgers ran out of steam in the ninth. The Warriors delivered a five-run knockout punch to put the exclamation point on the sweep.

“They showed a lot of resilience. A lot of times when you get that first game on the road, you tend to just feel satisfied with a split,” Adams said. “They kept coming after us. The top of their order did the damage (in the first contest, going 9-for-18 with six runs and six RBI in the 1-4 spots), and the bottom got us in the second game (Waukee’s 8 and 9 hitters were 5-for-10 with five runs scored, a home run, a double and two RBI).

“For the first time, we played more like individuals than as a team. We let some mistakes (in the field) and some bad at-bats carry over, and we started to hang our heads a little. When you score 15 runs (in the doubleheader) and get swept, there were a lot of pitches or defensive plays we could have made to get out of innings. When you give a team like this extra outs or pitches, they’ll make you pay.”

Doster had three hits, while Alstott, Bennett, Adams and Wertz added two hits each. All 14 FDSH hits were singles, however; Waukee, meanwhile, recorded two doubles, two triples and two home runs.

Jacobson, a recruit for national power DMACC, worked the final two innings in relief of Ogles to pick up the victory.

The Dodgers return to action on Wednesday at home against North Polk. First varsity pitch is set for 7 p.m.

WAUKEE 10, FORT DODGE 6

Waukee 061 201 0 — 10 15 0

Fort Dodge 020 130 0 — 6 9 2

WP–Molly Jacobson (5 IP, 9 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 1 BB, 1 K). LP–Jalen Adams (7 IP, 15 H, 10 R, 9 ER, 0 BB, 3 K). 2B–FD: Tory Bennett, Chloe Wertz, Tristin Doster; W: Molly Jacobson, Delaney Taylor. 3B–W: Jalyn Yaukovitz. HR–W: Reagan Bartholomew.

WAUKEE 14, FORT DODGE 9 (9)

Waukee 001 204 205 — 14 17 2

Fort Dodge 016 100 100 — 9 14 4

WP–Jacobson (2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K). LP–Haley Wills (6 IP, 9 H, 7 R, 6 ER, 3 BB, 1 K). 2B–W: Kate Felt, Taylor. 3B–W: Bartholomew, Yaukovitz. HR–W: Felt, Taylor.