Comets show their grit while winning State Softball consolation bracket

By John Burbridge

sports@charlescitypress.com

FORT DODGE — This was more than just a consolation prize. This was more than just fifth place.

For the Charles City Comets, it was a affirmation of true grit amid a triple-digit heat index crucible.

“I don’t know if this is our biggest win of the season,” Charles City coach Brian Bohlen said after his team pulled out a wild 11-7 international tie-breaker victory over Perry to win the Class 4A State Softball consolation bracket for fifth-place.

“I say beating West Delaware (to make it to state) was our biggest victory,” Bohlen said. “But it’s nice to face a little adversity and come out on top.”

A little adversity? It seemed for a while that the Comets were destined not only to leave Fort Dodge in defeat, but also in an ambulance.

Against Jayettes ace Emma Olejniczak, who is Iowa softball’s answer to Nolan Ryan with more than 860 strikeouts with a year left of prep eligibility, the Comets took a 2-1 lead in the top of the third on Tayler Schmidt’s towering home run — her third dinger of the postseason.

In the latter half of the inning, the Comets got into trouble for perhaps being too gritty. Charles City left fielder Sara Martin and shortstop Bailey Mitchell met in a wicked collision while drawing a bead on Rachel Kinney’s popup. Somehow, Martin hung on for the catch for the second out.

One batter later, the two Comets collided again, this time chasing down Victoria Hegstrom’s popup. This time the impact shook the ball loose from Mitchell’s glove, and a four-run rally ensued.

The Comets got two of those runs back in the fourth, but trailed 6-4 going into the sixth with the 90-minute consolation time limit running out.

Comet senior Jamie Sindlinger led off with a single and later scored on a wild pitch to make the score 6-5. With two outs in the inning and no one aboard, Shae Etherington drew a walk and — after advancing to second — was driven in on a two-strike base hit by Shantel VanHauen to keep CC alive.

Megan Roethler pitched a 1-2-3 inning in the latter half of the sixth, prompting the tie-breaker.

Being spotted a runner at second (Schmidt) to start their half of the tie-breaker against Perry reliever Sidney Vancil, Charles City scored five runs with RBI hits by Martin, Mitchell and Etherington; and RBI groundouts by Payton Reams and Cianna Sonberg. Megan Staudt also singled in the tie-breaker inning.

Comets limited Perry to one run in the latter half of the tie-breaker as Roethler, who earlier pitched a six-inning shutout in the consolation semifinal against Bishop Heelan before relieving freshman starter Samantha Heyer in the first inning against Perry, picked up her second win of the day.

“I pitched in conditions like this before, but it’s usually not in back-to-back games,” Roethler said. “But we had ice in the dugout and coolers … we were prepared.”

For Roethler, who has been playing varsity softball since eight grade, this was her final prep game.

“I’m going to UNI with a double major, so I’m not going to have time to play softball in college other than intramurals,” Roethler said. “So it’s nice to finish like this.

“We’re a good, scrappy team, Unlike some teams here, we had to fight for a lot of our wins like we just did today.”

Though Bohlen will lose Roethler and other key seniors like Etherington, Sindlinger and Staudt, he has a lot coming back.

“We already have a starting lineup for next year,” he said. “We just got to move some positions around.”

CHARLES CITY 11, PERRY 7

Scoring By Innings

Charles City 101 202 5 — 11 9 3

Perry 104 100 1 — 7 5 0

WP — Megan Roethler (CC) 6.67 IN, 4 H, 6 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 2 SO.

LP — Sidney Vancil (P) 1 IN, 6 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 1 BB, 0 SO.

Leading Hitters — Charles City: Tayler Schmidt (2-3, HR, RBI), Jamie Sindlinger (2-3, RBI), Megan Staudt (2-3, 2B, RBI), Sara Martin (1-3, RBI, BB), Shae Etherington (2-4, RBI, 2 Runs scored); Perry: Brooke Huntington (2-3), Maddy Jans (1-3, 2B, 2 RBIs), Johnna Diw (3 BBs).