Go-Hawks get past Comets

Waverly-Shell Rock remains undefeated in Northeast Iowa Conference

By John Burbridge

sports@charlescitypress.com

WAVERLY — The love between Charles City and Waverly-Shell Rock is akin to the love many NBA fans outside Cleveland have for LeBron James.

So for the Comets, it would have been a nice feather in their cap — in particular a Go-Hawk feather — if they could have issued W-SR its first Northeast Iowa Conference softball loss of the season on its own field.

For most of the game, the Comets were in position to do that as Charles City senior Megan Roethler pitched one of her best games of the year while going up against Go-Hawk ace Kelsey Aikey, who entered the game with a 0.30 earned run average through 69 innings pitched.

But with the scored tied 1-1 through five and a half innings, W-SR managed to manufacture two runs in the bottom of the sixth — the go-ahead run coming from a strikeout swing on a pitch in the dirt — and the Go-Hawks went on to win, 3-1.

The victory extended W-SR’s undefeated conference record to 9-0 and improved its overall record to 18-3.

The Comets fell to 11-5 and 5-4.

After Aikey rolled through the Comets’ lineup the first time through while recording five strikeouts, leadoff hitter Megan Staudt reached on an infield single with one out in the third inning. Left-handed slap hitter Shae Etherington followed with a double over a drawn-in outfield that chased Staudt home as the Comets drew first blood.

In the latter half of the inning, Go-Hawk Kelsey Young reached on a throwing error and eventually advanced to third before a deep fly ball from Jayle Reints drove her home to tie the game.

In the fifth inning, several misplays by the Comets enabled the Go-Hawks to load the bases with one out. But Roethler managed to strike out two hitters in order to get out of the jam.

The Go-Hawks started their half of the sixth with singles by Cassie Rottink and Renae Kane. With Sara Carnes pinch running for Rottink and Haley Eckerman pinch running for Kane, both runners advanced to third and second, respectively, before Erin Hinders struck out on a pitch in the dirt.

Carnes came in to score on the throw to first to get Hinders, who was safe. Kali Matthias followed with a bloop single to bring home Kane for an insurance run.

With one out in the top of the seventh, Bailey Mitchell tripled down the right-field line. But Aikey was able to retire the next two batters to improve her record to 10-1 after striking out 10, walking none and scattering six hits.

Roethler suffered the loss after striking out seven, walking one, and yielding seven hits and two earned runs in six innings.

Staudt at Jamie Sindlinger each had two hits for the Comets, who will host Decorah at Sportsmen’s Park starting at 7:30 p.m. tonight.

Young and Kane each had two hits for the Go-Hawks.

WAVERLY-SHELL ROCK 3,
CHARLES CITY 1

Scoring By Innings

CC 001 000 0 — 1 6 2

WSR 001 002 X — 3 7 0

WP ­— Kelsey Aikey (WSR) 7 IN, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 10 SO.

LP — Megan Roethler (CC) 6 IN, 7 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 7 SO.

Leading Hitters — Charles City: Megan Staudt (2-4, run scored), Jamie Sindlinger (2-3), Bailey Mitchell (1-3, 3B), Shae Etherington (1-3, 2B); Waverly-Shell Rock: Kelsey Young (2-4, 2B, run scored), Renae Kane (2-3, run scored).