Comets shoot down Chickasaws, 9-0, for 9th-straight win
Charles City outfielder Payton Reams can’t quite reach the double hit off the bat of New Hampton’s Kayla Crooks in the second inning. The Comets were able to prevent the Chickasaws from scoring that inning as well as for the whole game, and later put them away with a pair of 4-run rallies, the latter of which was started by a solo homer by Reams.
By John Burbridge sports@charlescitypress.com
CHARLES CITY — Comet catcher Kelby Katcher is hitting more than .500.
Or rather she’s getting more than .500 — would-be base-stealers that is.
Not a bad percentage considering perennial gold glove-recipient Yadier Molina of the St. Louis Cardinals leads the major leagues by far while shooting down 40 percent. And this is in an era bereft of great base stealers.
In what was then a close game and a potential pitching duel between Charles City ace Sami Heyer and New Hampton’s Savannah Anderson, Chickasaw Maddie Moorman led off the second inning with a sharp single to center after the Comets had taken a 1-0 lead.
But that runner was soon erased when Katcher gunned down the subsequent steal attempt while throwing from her knees.
It was Katcher’s seventh victim paired against just five successful attempts off her.
With the Comets still nursing the 1-0 advantage, Katcher singled to load the bases with no outs in the bottom of the fifth. From there, Charles City’s top of the order took over, rallying for 4 runs with Ciana Sonberg’s 2-RBI double being the big blow.
Charles City followed with another 4-run rally in the sixth starting with a solo home run by Payton Reams — her second in as many days and third of the year helping lead the Class 4A No. 3-ranked Comets to a 9-0 Northeast Iowa Conference victory.
For Charles City, the ninth-straight win improved its overall record to 16-1 and undefeated NEIC mark to 7-0.
Sonberg and Reams each had two hits
Other Comets with two hits included leadoff hitter Lisabeth Fiser who scored twice and had an RBI; and Tayler Schmidt, who had 3 RBIs; Maddie Peters, who doubled and scored two runs; and Heyer, who doubled and had 2 RBIs.
Heyer went the distance for the shutout while striking out eight and yielding four hits and two walks.
Kayla Crooks had a double for the Chickasaws, who fell to 7-4 and 5-3
With Heyer in the circle, Charles City again opted for its five-infielder, two-outfield alignment while playing the Chickasaws not to pull.
And again, the opposing team didn’t make the the Comets pay. Rather, the alignment paid off twice for the Comets.
With runners on the corners and one out in the top of the sixth, Moorman hit a grounder through the infield that normally would have went for an RBI single. Instead, Schmidt — who plays “center-infield” during the shift — fielded the grounder for a “Tayler-made” 4-3 doubleplay to end the threat.
Schmidt was also in the right spot behind second base to thwart another would-be single when she snared Anderson’s liner up the middle to end the game.
The Comets will take their undefeated conference record to Oelwein on Thursday.
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