The One that Got Away

Comets roughed up by Indians, 14-1; take home fourth-place trophy

By John Burbridge sports@charlescitypress.com

FORT DODGE — Friday morning’s rainfall at the State Softball Championships moved the Class 4A championship and third-place games back more than an hour, but at least it took the edge off the super sultry conditions that plagued the tournament the day before.

Nonetheless, the Oskaloosa Indians still managed to bring the heat — mainly in the form of senior ace pitcher Alexis Groet — for their Class 4A third-place game against the Charles City Comets.

Groet, who was the winning pitcher during the Indians’ 2016 state championship win over Carlisle, came into the tournament with 255 strikeouts while trailing only Comet counterpart Sami Heyer for most in Class 4A.

On Friday, Groet struck out 10 Comets and yielded four hits in the Indians’ 14-1 win to close the season for both teams.

Oskaloosa (32-8) rallied for 5 runs in the in the fourth to go up 6-0 before exploding for 8 runs in the sixth to leave Charles City (33-8) in the dust.

The Comets did get some punches in before it was over. After the 8-run rally, junior Tayler Schmidt connected for her seventh homer of the season — second of the tournament — to finally get Charles City on the board. One batter later, senior Bailey Mitchell doubled before Shantel VanHauen reached on a fielder’s choice to place runners on the corners.

But even if the Comets managed to rally for 4 more runs to get the deficit under 10, the game would have been called after six innings save Charles City tying the score due to it exceeding the 90-minute time limit imposed on third-place and consolation round games.

“We didn’t quit … we kept working until the end,” said Charles City coach Brian Bohlen, whose team managed to leave Fort Dodge for the second-straight year with a momento for the school’s trophy case.

Last year the Comets won the fifth-place trophy after going 2-0 in the consolation bracket.

“We hit the ball hard at times, but it was just at people,” Bohlen said. “Sami (Heyer) made some good pitches, but they were able to get several balls to fall in for hits.

“The game kind of got away from us, but it was still a great season. We’re losing three seniors (Mitchell, VanHauen and Sara Martin), and they’ve been great for us, but we’ve got a lot of talent coming back.”

Indian leadoff hitter Josie Bunnell, who took a Heyer pitch to her side, was a major thorn in the side to the Comets as she reached base four times while going 3 for 4 with 2 runs scored and 2 runs batted in.

Ava Vande Wall, Aubrey Miller, Maddie Haines and Meghan Moorman all had two hits for the Indians, who had 15 as a team.

Junior Madeline Peters and freshman Lisabeth Fiser had the other two hits for the Comets.

In the simultaneously played Class 4A championship game, No. 1-seed Winterset defeated Ballard, 5-2.

The Class 4A All-Tournament Team was named after the conclusion of the championship game. Comet junior Ciana Sonberg, who solo homerer and drove in another run in Charles City’s 5-4 first-round win over Fairfield, was named to that team.

State Softball Championships

Class 4A Third-Place Game

July 21

At Rogers Sports Complex, Fort Dodge

OSKALOOSA 14, CHARLES CITY 1 (6 inn)

OSKALOOSA AB R H BI CHARLES CITY AB R H BI

Josie Bunnell 4 2 3 2 Payton Reams 3 0 0 0

Anna Jones 5 1 0 0 Ciana Sonberg 2 0 0 0

Ava Vande Wall 3 2 2 2 Tayler Schmidt 2 1 1 1

Krissy McCombs 1 0 1 2 Sara Martin 3 0 0 0

Aubrey Miller 5 1 2 2 Bailey Mitchell 3 0 1 0

Taylor Wills 3 1 0 0 Shantel VanHauen 3 0 0 0

Maddie Haines 2 2 2 2 Cora Crooks 2 0 0 0

Meghan Moorman 4 0 2 2 Samantha Heyer 1 0 0 0

Devan Welch 2 0 1 0 Madeline Peters 3 0 1 0

Alexis Westercamp 1 1 0 0 Lisabeth Fiser 2 0 1 0

Chloe Bossard 2 1 1 1

Ashley Kindley 2 1 1 1

*Emily Richmond 0 1 0 0

*Kaylee Johnson 0 1 0 0

TOTALS 34 14 15 14 TOTALS 24 1 4 1

OSKALOOSA 010 508  — 14

CHARLES CITY 000 001  — 1

LOB–OSKALOOSA 8, CHARLES CITY 7. ERR–Devan Welch, Tayler

Schmidt. 2B–Ava Vande Wall, Krissy McCombs, Bailey

Mitchell. HR–Tayler Schmidt. HBP–Josie Bunnell, Devan

Welch. SACB–Maddie Haines.

OSKALOOSA IP H R ER BB SO HR

Alexis Groet 6.00 4 1 1 2 10 1

CHARLES CITY

Samantha Heyer 6.00 15 14 11 3 7 0

PB–Ciana Sonberg. WP–Samantha Heyer. SO–Anna Jones,

Ashley Kindley, Taylor Wills (2), Chloe Bossard, Aubrey

Miller, Alexis Westercamp, Samantha Heyer, Tayler Schmidt,

Payton Reams (3), Cora Crooks (2), Sara Martin (3).

BB–Taylor Wills, Maddie Haines, Ava Vande Wall, Ciana

Sonberg, Tayler Schmidt.

NOTES: 4A-Umpires-Pat Pacha, Roger Menke, Kirk Park

Class 4A Championship Game

WINTERSET 5, BALLARD 2

BALLARD AB R H BI WINTERSET AB R H BI

Skylar Rigby 3 1 1 0 Macy Johnson 3 1 3 0

Rachel Newell 1 0 0 0 Ally Pickering 4 0 1 0

Abby Carlin 4 1 1 2 Danny Barker 4 0 0 0

Isabell Hobbs 3 0 1 0 Emma Lowden 2 0 0 0

Maggie Larson 2 0 0 0 Jessie Nicholson 3 0 1 0

Karlee Ahrenholtz 2 0 0 0 Grace McDonald 3 1 1 0

Hannah Elliott 1 0 0 0 Mia Olson 3 1 1 0

Katie Sydnes 2 0 0 0 Natalie Hansen 3 2 2 3

Isabella Johnson 3 0 1 0 Mariah White 2 0 0 0

Jenna Moody 3 0 0 0 Ava Lowden 1 0 0 0

TOTALS 24 2 4 2 TOTALS 28 5 9 3

BALLARD 200 000 0 — 2

WINTERSET 020 300 x — 5

LOB–BALLARD 7, WINTERSET 7. ERR–Abby Carlin, Jenna Moody,

Danny Barker. 2B–Natalie Hansen, Grace McDonald. 3B–Macy

Johnson. HR–Abby Carlin, Natalie Hansen. SACB–Rachel

Newell (2).

BALLARD IP H R ER BB SO HR

Abby Carlin (L) 6.00 9 5 3 2 4 1

WINTERSET

Sophie Stover (W) 7.00 4 2 2 4 3 1

PB–Emma Lowden (2). WP–Sophie Stover (2). SO–Hannah

Elliott, Katie Sydnes, Isabella Johnson, Grace McDonald, Mia

Olson, Emma Lowden, Jessie Nicholson. BB–Skylar Rigby,

Rachel Newell, Maggie Larson, Karlee Ahrenholtz, Macy

Johnson, Emma Lowden.

NOTES: Umpires: Home, Jason Slater; First, Karl Wooldridge;

Third, Tom Sullivan

LOCATION: Rogers Park – BVU Diamond

Class 4A All-Tournament Team

Natalie Hansen, Winterset

Isabell Hobbs, Ballard

Macy Johnson, Winterset

Alyvia Dubois, Carlisle

Ciana Sonberg, Charles City

Chi Glaha, Mount Pleasant

Alexis Groet, Oskaloosa

Skylar Rigby, Ballard

Danny Barker, Winterset

Rachel Newell, Ballard

Sophie Stover, Winterset (Captain)