No. 3-ranked Comet cruise to 12-0 victory over Indians

By John Burbridge sports@charlescitypress.com

CHARLES CITY — Left fielders.

They do have a purpose, I guess, though the Charles City Comets seem to have little use for them whenever ace fireballer Sami Heyer is in the circle facing right-handed batters, opting instead for five infielders.

And Heyer herself didn’t have much use for Forest City left fielder Morgan Hobbs who took away a would-be 2-run homer while reaching high up to snare Heyer’s long fly ball with her back against the fence to end a scoreless first inning.

But even though Hobbs was able to take one HR away during Tuesday’s non-conference game against the Comets at Sportsmen’s Park, she couldn’t bring all of them back.

Subsequent 2-run blasts by North Iowa Area Community College-bound seniors Payton Reams and Tayler Schmidt cleared the left-field fence with more than enough height and distance to assure that they were going to be well out of the grasp of Hobbs as the Class 4A No. 3-ranked Comets cruised to a 12-0 victory that was stopped with no outs in the bottom of the fourth after Charles City had rallied for 4 runs.

The win improved Charles City’s record to 15-1. It’s the team’s eighth-straight win in a span of six days after losing to previously winless Cedar Falls last Wednesday.

Heyer picked up her 10th win of the season after striking out nine in four innings while yielding one hit and one walk.

She also was 2 for 3 with an RBI — that one out came from being robbed by Hobbs.

Schmidt, who leads the Comets with five homers, also had a sacrifice fly.

Junior Cora Crooks was 3 for 3 with a triple, RBI and three runs scored; freshman Allie Cross was 2 for 3 with 3 RBIs; senior Ciana Sonberg reached base all three of her plate appearances, stole two bases and scored twice; and senior Kelby Katcher had a hit and a RBI for the Comets, who will be back in action when they host Oelwein on Thursday.

CHARLES CITY 12, FOREST CITY 0

F. CITY AB  R  H BI  CHARLES CITY AB  R  H BI

Anna Andersen   2  0  1  0  Lisabeth Fiser        3  1  1  0

Kelsey Koch     2  0  0  0  Ciana Sonberg         1  2  1  0

Morgan Hobbs   2  0  0  0  Tayler Schmidt        2  1  1  3

C Holland           2  0  0  0  Sami Heyer            3  0  2  1

Callie McQuown 1  0  0  0  Cora Crooks           3  3  3  1

Natalie Moore  2  0  0  0  Payton Reams          2  1  1  2

Madi Korthals        1  0  0  0  Allie Cross           3  1  2  3

Melissa Wilson 1  0  0  0  Madeline Peters       2  0  1  0

Erin Caylor         1  0  0  0  Kelby Katcher         2  0  1  1

                                  *Lydia Staudt         0  2  0  0

                                  *Kiki Connell         0  1  0  0

TOTALS        14  0  1  0  TOTALS               21 12 13 11

FOREST CITY           000 0 — 0

CHARLES CITY 017 4 — 12

LOB–FOREST CITY VARSITY 3, CHARLES CITY VARSITY 4. ERR–Natalie Moore, C Holland, Allie Cross. 3B–Cora Crooks. HR–Payton Reams, Tayler Schmidt. SACF–Tayler Schmidt.

SB–Lisabeth Fiser, Allie Cross, Madeline Peters, Cora

Crooks (2), Kiki Connell, Ciana Sonberg (2).

FOREST CITY             IP    H    R   ER   BB   SO   HR

Kennedy Klein                  3.00   13   12   12    3    1    2

CHARLES CITY      

Sami Heyer                     4.00    1    0    0    1    9    0

PB–C Holland. SO–Morgan Hobbs (2), Kelsey Koch (2), Natalie Moore, Callie McQuown, Anna Andersen, C Holland, Melissa Wilson, Payton Reams. BB–Callie McQuown, Payton Reams, Ciana Sonberg (2).