It’s an indelible memory both Mustangs might never forget, and yet barely a smudge on Neuroth’s stellar high school career.

Neuroth, a starting pitcher for four seasons in Mustang Country, graduated as the program’s all-time strikeout leader and for the second summer in a row has been named the Times-Republican’s All-Area Softball Player of the Year.

Neuroth graduated as East Marshall’s strikeout queen, passing her predecessor Kodie Hoskey to finish with 833 strikeouts in four seasons in the pitching circle. She averaged 9.24 strikeouts per seven innings and never once stopped to worry about where she was at in relation to Kodie’s career mark.

“Honestly those are things that weren’t even in the back of my head all year,” Neuroth said, “it’s just something that happened. I didn’t really care about that as long as we were winning, but just being able to have that record shows the work that I put in.”

Neuroth was happy to pass the previous record when it came as part of a win against West Marshall, but it wasn’t a goal she set out to achieve.

That happened in mid-July, when Neuroth helped lead the Mustangs back to the state softball tournament for the first time since 2019.

“We worked hard for what we wanted and we ended up getting that end goal, which was to go to state, and I think it just went full circle from watching other (East Marshall) teams go to state to then us being able to accomplish that our senior season,” Neuroth said. “That made the whole season worth what we had been doing.

“Obviously we wanted to do the best that we could, but the goal was to get to state and whatever happened happened. We won the first one and had a hard-fought game with Van Meter that could have gone either way, honestly, and we could have been in the state championship game but it just didn’t work out our way.”

In its first state tournament appearance in Neuroth’s five seasons of varsity softball, East Marshall kicked the door down with an 8-1 win over Lisbon in the Class 2A quarterfinals. The Mustangs were in the driver’s seat against perennial power Van Meter but couldn’t finish off the Bulldogs, falling 4-3 in extra innings to a walk-off home run.

Two days later, East Marshall’s season finale was a 14-2, five-inning loss to Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont in the third-place game. Neuroth lasted just 3 2/3 innings in the circle, having surrendered 13 runs (six earned) on 12 hits while striking out five.

“It was hard for me on the mental side because I don’t think I’ve ever had to go through something like that before,” Neuroth said. “I’m not sure in high school I’ve ever had to get pulled out of a game. I usually can just work through it, but at that point in time that’s why we have Peyton (Grabenbauer) and I’m so happy for her that she got to experience the mound at state. That’s something the girls can work for next year and the years to come.”

Coach Hoskey said pulling Neuroth out of her final high school game was something he’d never considered until he did it.

“I think we had Van Meter-itis,” said Hoskey. “Even practice the night before, we weren’t ready to play for third place. It was tough, but all in all to take her out, she went out a winner regardless of what the last game was. We wouldn’t have been there without her.”

Neuroth’s senior season included a 27-4 pitching record with 289 strikeouts in 197 2/3 innings. She finished with a 1.70 earned run average while walking only 25 batters and hitting eight more.

For her incredible career, Neuroth was 67-28 with 833 strikeouts in 631 innings pitched. She posted a 2.11 career ERA, a 0.99 WHIP (walks and hits per inning pitched), and opponents hit only .211 against her.

“We talked at the beginning of the season that she needed however many strikeouts to pass Kodie and she really didn’t care,” Hoskey said. “Like a great athlete, she didn’t care, she just wanted to win.”

Not a bad pitching career for the team’s best hitter in each of five seasons.

Neuroth led the Mustangs in batting average all five years she played, starting as a right fielder as an eighth grader while assuming most if not all of the pitching duties upon entering high school.

She was a .422 career hitter (201-for-476) and started 143-of-149 games played. Neuroth compiled 114 runs scored, 61 doubles, six triples, five home runs and 91 RBIs while never striking out more than 10 times in a single season. She struck out just 29 times in her five-year career.

“The biggest thing I’ll remember is just the game that we won to go to state,” Neuroth said. “Just getting that last out to go to state was so fun. Everyone was screaming and excited. Even that Van Meter game at state that we lost, it was a very fun and emotional game, but I think it was so exciting and just the way that we fought with them and played with them really showed how good we actually are.

“Also winning Rose Festival and beating West Marshall twice, I don’t think we lost to them in my time so that’s always something fun to do.”

Coach Hoskey said Neuroth’s lasting legacy will be a lot more than the numbers.

“Morgan’s obviously one of the better pitchers we’ve ever had at East Marshall,” he said, “but she was good regardless of whether or not we got to state. If we’d have gotten beat by Ogden or Carroll Kuemper or Panorama, she still would have had a great career.”

2024 Times-Republican All-Area Softball Team

Player of the Year — Morgan Neuroth, sr., East Marshall

Co-Coaches of the Year — Jary Hoskey, East Marshall, and Jake Randall, West Marshall

FIRST TEAM

Pitchers — Klayre Gallentine, so., BCLUW; Aubree Greenwood, fr., West Marshall; Adelyn Sienknecht, jr., North Tama.

Catchers — Bailey Grant, jr., East Marshall; Callie Swanson, sr., BCLUW.

Infielders — Jillian Karsjen, jr., West Marshall; Lucy Lebo, sr., Grundy Center; Rayne McIlrath, sr., East Marshall; Jenna Randall, fr., West Marshall; Kate Sandvick, fr., Marshalltown; Emma Stupp, fr., Marshalltown.

Outfielders — Gianna Baune, so., Marshalltown; Vaeda Bryan, jr., East Marshall; Lillian Fischer, jr., West Marshall; Amelia Ranson, jr., West Marshall.

Utility — Briley Danielson, fr., Marshalltown; Laney Danielson, jr., Marshalltown; Peyton Grabenbauer, fr., East Marshall; Cassie Nason, jr., BCLUW.

HONORABLE MENTION

Morgan Bergman, jr., BCLUW; Ava Bringmann, sr., East Marshall; Josie deNeui, sr., West Marshall; Maddy Hendershot, fr., Grundy Center; Addison Hochstetler, so., North Tama; Makayla Kerber, sr., East Marshall; Allison Koch, so., Grundy Center; Millie Mathes-Henle, sr., South Tama; Ava Mundt, fr., Grundy Center; Aubrie Mundt, jr., Marshalltown; Karsyn Price, jr., Marshalltown; Harper Rausch, fr., North Tama; Gabrielle Seda, fr., North Tama; Taylor Thomas, so., West Marshall; Ashtyn Wheater, fr., East Marshall; Carlie Willis, sr., Grundy Center; Lily Zahnd, jr., West Marshall.