Comets unleash thunderous attack on Chickasaws

Charles City wins first game of DH, 8-4, before second game suspended

By John Burbridge sports@charlescitypress.com

CHARLES CITY — Lightning struck more than once at Sportsmen’s Park on Thursday.

During an early-morning storm, a resounding bolt lacerated a cottonwood tree near the park’s disc golf course, taking off a good portion of its side like a giant carving knife while schrapnel-like splinters of wood landed more than 100 feet away.

By the time the Charles City Comets hosted New Hampton in a Northeast Iowa Conference softball doubleheader later that day, all the pyrotechnics subsided.

Or did they?

After trailing 4-2 midway through the first game, the Comets began hitting them “where they ain’t” starting with a 2-run homer by Payton Reams immediately backed up a by solo shot by Ciana Sonberg.

Later, Comet senior Sara Martin hit a 3-run shot to cap the scoring at 8-4 in the sixth inning for the eventual Charles City victory.

In the second game, Martin and Kelby Katcher both hit 2-run homers in a 6-run first inning.

The Comets were leading 8-2 in the bottom of the fourth before lightning — the literal kind — suspended play for the mandatory 30 minutes before both teams agreed to finish the game at a later date starting from the point where it stopped.

Including the unfinished game, the Comets now have 28 homers as a team. Martin has 11, which matches her output from last season.

“During the offseason, they have open gym on Sundays and that’s where I worked on my hitting,” said Martin, who leads the Comets in a multitude of offensive categories, including slugging percentage which is now over a thousand (1.000+).

Such an output may be expected from Martin, but the Comets have been playing long-ball with some unusual suspects.

For instance, Reams in her first full year of varsity ball is second on the team with six homers, and Katcher — who often had someone hit for her last year — now has three.

“As a senior, you try to help the younger players out,” Martin said. “I leave most of the hitting advice to the coaches, but if I see something wrong with someone’s swing, or see something that needs to be tweaked, I let them know.”

In the first game, Sonberg was 3 for 4 with a homer and a double, Tayler Schmidt was 2 for 3 with a double, Katcher and Martin both had two hits; and startin pitcher Sami Heyer overcame a shaky 3-run first inning to improve her record to 16-2 for the Comets (23-3, 10-2).

New Hampton fell to 18-9 and 9-7.

In the suspended second game, Martin was 3 for 3 with a homer, a double and 3 RBIs; Katcher was 2 for 2 with a homer; Schmidt had a triple, and Bailey Mitchell and Lisabeth Fiser both had doubles.