Comets split dramatic doubleheader with Go-Hawks

By John Burbridge
sports@charlescitypress.com
WAVERLY — Cub reporters tend to annoy their grizzled editors whenever they file a story with a sentence or part of one stating how a pitcher “helped himself out” by producing with his bat.

When Charles City senior Cole Reams rapped his second double of the second game and third overall from Wednesday’s Northeast Iowa Conference doubleheader against Waverly-Shell Rock, he not only helped himself but the whole Comet team in desperate need to rid itself of a mid-season skid.

It gave the Comets a 2-1 lead in the top of the seventh inning — it perhaps should have given the Comets a 3-1 lead as Colton Slinger, following Ian Collins ahead of him, appeared to get under the tag during a play at the plate but was called out.

In a long-relief role, Reams came out in the latter half for his sixth inning of work and appeared to shut the Go-Hawks down 1-2-3 to end a five-game losing streak and salvage a split against the Go-Hawks.

But the would-be third out — Connor Havlovic’s grounder to Comet third baseman Jace Cajthaml, who threw across the bag to an outstretched Tait Arndt at first — was appealed by W-SR, which claimed that Arndt was pulled off the bag.

The appeal was successful as the home plate umpire 90 feet from the play reversed the call.

There was a pall of doom looming over the Comet fans in attendance who had a sense of recent history between the two teams. The Comets tend to play the perennial power Go-Hawks well at Wartburg College’s Hertel Field, which also serves as the home for the Go-Hawks. But Charles City tends to lose these closely contested games in the most bizarre fashions.

This had the makings of another cursed final.

But Reams, after walking Kaden Dewey on a 3-2 pitch that many of the Comet faithful thought was a strike, outbattled Go-Hawk senior Payton Leonard — who spoiled four straight two-strike pitches by fouling them off — by eventually striking him out for the elusive win.

Wyatt Stevenson, who tied the game with a 2-out RBI single in the sixth, had two hits for Charles City, which improved to 7-8 overall and 6-3 in the NEIC.

Waverly-Shell Rock, which won the first game by the same score, is now 12-5 overall and 7-2 in the NEIC.

In the first game, Charles City got another strong performance from junior southpaw Elliott Sinwell, who gave up six hits and 2 earned runs in six innings. But with the win blowing strongly from the north, 2 runs proved to be enough to win both games as Sinwell’s counterpart Carson Graven got the complete-game victory while scattering five hits and yielding just one run.

Arndt was 2 for 3 with a RBI double, and JJ Ritter was 2 for 3 for the Comets.

With one out in the top of the seventh and the tying run at third in the form of pinch-runner Jeremiah Chapman, Stevenson hit a grounder to Go-Hawk shortstop Kurby Vowels, who made a good throw to catcher Carter Langreck, who tagged out a head-first sliding Chapman.

Game One
WAVERLY-SHELL ROCK 2, CHARLES CITY 1
CC AB R H BI WSR AB R H BI
Colton Slinger 3 0 0 0 Connor Havlovic 2 0 0 0
JJ Ritter 3 0 2 0 Kaden Dewey 2 0 0 0
Cole Reams 3 1 1 0 Payton Leonard 3 0 1 0
Jace Cajthaml 3 0 0 0 Brody Key 3 0 1 0
Tait Arndt 3 0 2 1 Carter Langreck 3 0 0 0
Elliott Sinwell 2 0 0 0 Carson Graven 3 0 1 0
Wyatt Stevenson 2 0 0 0 Korby Dewey 3 1 1 0
Atticus Parrott 2 0 0 0 Pete McMillin 1 0 1 1
Ian Collins 2 0 0 0 Kurby Vowels 2 0 1 1
*Benjamin Buseman 0 1 0 0
TOTALS 23 1 5 1 TOTALS 22 2 6 2
CHARLES CITY 000 100 0 — 1
WAVERLY-SHELL ROCK 020 000 x — 2
LOB–CHARLES CITY 4, WAVERLY-SHELL ROCK 5. ERR–Brody Key. 2B–Tait Arndt. SACF–Pete McMillin. SACB–Elliott Sinwell, Atticus Parrott.
CHARLES CITY IP H R ER BB SO HR
Elliott Sinwell 6.00 6 2 2 2 3 0
WAVERLY-SHELL ROCK
Carson Graven 7.00 5 1 1 1 5 0
PB–Carter Langreck. WP–Elliott Sinwell. SO–Jace
Cajthaml, Ian Collins, Wyatt Stevenson, Atticus Parrott, Cole Reams, Korby Dewey, Payton Leonard, Kaden Dewey. BB–Wyatt Stevenson, Connor Havlovic, Kaden Dewey.
Game Two
CHARLES CITY 2, WAVERLY-SHELL ROCK 1
CC AB R H BI WSR AB R H BI
Colton Slinger 4 0 1 0 Connor Havlovic 4 0 1 0
Jerry Chapman 0 0 0 0 Kaden Dewey 1 0 0 0
JJ Ritter 4 0 1 0 Payton Leonard 4 0 0 0
Cole Reams 3 0 2 1 Brody Key 2 0 1 0
Jace Cajthaml 4 0 0 0 Carter Langreck 2 0 1 0
Tait Arndt 2 0 1 0 Carson Graven 3 0 0 0
Elliott Sinwell 2 1 1 0 Pete McMillin 3 0 0 0
Wyatt Stevenson 2 0 2 1 Chance Key 1 1 0 0
Atticus Parrott 3 0 0 0 Korby Dewey 1 0 0 0
Ian Collins 3 1 0 0 Kurby Vowels 1 0 0 0
TOTALS 27 2 8 2 TOTALS 22 1 3 0
CHARLES CITY 000 001 1 — 2
WAVERLY-SHELL ROCK 000 010 0 — 1
LOB–CHARLES CITY 8, WAVERLY-SHELL ROCK 8. ERR–Jace Cajthaml (2), Carson Graven, Chance Key. 2B–Cole Reams (2). HBP–Wyatt Stevenson, Cole Reams. SACB–Elliott Sinwell, Kurby Vowels (2). SB–Colton Slinger, Elliott Sinwell, Pete McMillin, Kaden Dewey, Chance Key (2), BradyRamker.
CHARLES CITY IP H R ER BB SO HR
Jaxon Daniels 0.67 0 0 0 3 1 0
JJ Ritter 0.33 0 0 0 0 0 0
Cole Reams 6.00 3 1 1 3 2 0
WAVERLY-SHELL ROCK
Payton Leonard 3.00 2 0 0 1 1 0
Chance Key 4.00 6 2 1 0 5 0
WP–Jaxon Daniels. SO–Jace Cajthaml, Ian Collins, Tait Arndt, Atticus Parrott (2), Cole Reams, Payton Leonard (2), Carter Langreck. BB–Tait Arndt, Carter Langreck, Kaden Dewey (3), Chance Key, Brody Key.