IOWA FALLS – There is determination in every swing that Cassidy Nerland takes. And when she makes contact? Look the heck out.

Just four days after ending her track and field season, the freshman wasn’t in Webster City’s starting lineup in the season opener here Wednesday night, but she still stole the spotlight.

Standing at the plate with the bases packed with two outs in the third inning, Nerland put a dent on the ball and in Iowa Falls-Alden’s chances of winning the North Central Conference contest with a mammoth shot that was still on the rise when it cleared the center field fence. The grand slam pushed the Lynx ahead 6-0 and they went on to trip up the Cadets, 11-5.

“When she makes contact, whether she gets that perfect swing or that perfect pitch or not, it’s going to be a hard-hit ball and they’re going to have to work for the out,” WCHS head coach Jess Howard said of Nerland, who owns five career home runs.

Nerland’s blast was just a part of a productive night at the plate for WCHS (1-0, 1-0 NCC), which touched IF-A pitcher Lindsay Aldinger for 12 hits. Hannah Myers went 3-for-4 with a double and scored three runs. Maddie Anderson and Mikaleh McCoy both blistered a pair of singles and plated two runs each. Catie Boyd had a base hit and also drove in two runs.

WCHS let its foot off the gas during the middle innings and allowed IF-A to creep into contention, but Howard was content with the end product.

“The girls did a good job of coming out right away, especially offensively by showing their dominance,” she said. “We’ve definitely got speed and we’ve got a lot of power, too. The girls really hit it hard this winter in the weight room and they’re starting to see that it pays off.”

Myers ignited the onslaught by lacing a one-out double into the gap in left-center in the first inning. She raced to the plate with the game’s first run on Anderson’s two-out RBI blooper into center field.

Myers also initiated the third-inning flurry with a one-out liner into left. IF-A (0-1, 0-1 NCC) could have been out of the inning unscathed had it not been for a mishandled pop fly and that opened the door for Nerland to bring out the dagger.

Kenady Highland, Allie Flaws and Myers delivered three consecutive singles in the fourth and all three eventually scored to push the Lynx cushion to 9-0. McCoy’s first hit of the season – a liner to left – brought Highland and Flaws around to score.

Boyd drove in her second run on a hard-hit base knock down the right field line in the seventh. Taylor Schnathorst also picked up a RBI in the frame.

McCoy was the beneficiary of the offensive showcase, as the hard-throwing senior tossed a two-hitter in the circle to collect the win. Living on the inside corner against right-handed hitters, she struck out six and walked three. None of the Cadets’ runs were earned.

“I thought she pitched a great game and gave us a lot of ground balls,” Howard said. “If we make those plays they don’t score as many as they did.”

Aldinger brought life to the IF-A dugout in the fourth with a three-run homer to right-center. The Cadets scored another run in the sixth, but McCoy worked her way out of jams in both the fifth and sixth innings without much damage.

WCHS will make its 2015 home debut this evening when it hosts Clarion-Goldfield-Dows at 7:15 p.m. Action will get started with the junior varsity contest at 5:30 p.m.