Go-Hawks rally past Comets, 9-8

By John Burbridge sports@charlescitypress.com

CHARLES CITY — That’s Baseball.

The term transcends the sport itself and is often applied to other settings in life when things inexplicably take a turn for the worse.

The Charles City Comets had one of those “That’s Baseball” moments while playing baseball against Northeast Iowa Conference rival Waverly-Shell Rock on Friday.

For the Comets, it was a road game being played at Sportsmen’s Park — a rare if not ominous occurrence in itself. And it was moved up to West Coast night game CDT time after the heat advisory was due to subside.

It proved to be a pleasant evening, weatherwise. And things got even more pleasant for Charles City fans when the Comets rallied for 3 runs in the top of the seventh to take aa 8-5 lead.

But with the Comets just one out away from taking two out of three from the Class 3A No. 15-ranked Go-Hawks, W-SR junior Carter Langreck doubled to right-center field chasing home the tying and winning runs to cap a stunning 4-run rally in a 9-8 final.

That’s Baseball.

It was Langreck’s second hit of the game. Brady Leonard, Luke Willis and Jeremy Chaplin also had two hits for the Go-Hawks, who improve to 23-7 overall and 12-4 in the NEIC.

Charles City senior Dylan Salinas, who leads the Comets in multiple offensive categories including extra-base hits, was 3 for 4 with a pair of doubles.

Comet freshman JJ Ritter also had three hits and drove in two runs — latter of which capped Charles City’s rally in the seventh.

Tait Arndt had two hits and a RBI for the Comets, who are now 11-10 and 8-8.

The Comets could have used and perhaps should have gotten another run during their rally in the seventh. While trying to score on Ritter’s single, senior Theo Arndt — who was Charles City’s starting pitcher before being relieved in the fifth inning — found himself face-to-face with Go-Hawk catcher Langreck who had fielded the ball thrown in from the outfield. With a nifty juke, Arndt was able to get around Langreck and dive back to touch the plate before being tagged. It was the type of play featured periodically on ESPN’s Top 10 Plays of the Day.

But the home-plate umpire wasn’t impressed and called Arndt out for apparently breaching the grass area around the plate.

WAVERLY-SHELL ROCK 9, CHARLES CITY 8

CHARLES CITY         AB  R  H BI  WAVERLY-SHELL ROCK   AB  R  H BI

Colton Slinger        3  0  0  1  Ryan Willis           4  1  1  0

Cole  Reams           4  1  0  1  Brady Leonard         3  1  2  0

Dylan Salinas         4  0  3  0  Payton Leonard        3  1  1  0

Jace  Cajthaml        4  1  1  0  Luke Willis           4  2  2  2

Tait Arndt            4  1  2  1  Kaden Dewey           3  1  1  1

Theo Arndt            3  0  1  1  Carson Kallenberger   3  1  1  0

JJ Ritter             4  1  3  2  Jeremy Chaplin        3  1  2  2

Wyatt  Stevenson      3  2  1  0  Carter Langreck       4  0  2  2

Elliott Sinwell       3  0  1  2  Connor Havlovic       3  0  0  0

*Noah Schlader        0  1  0  0  *Pete McMillin        0  1  0  0

*Alec Elsbernd        0  1  0  0                                    

TOTALS               32  8 12  8  TOTALS               30  9 12  7

CHARLES CITY                 040 100 3 — 8

WAVERLY-SHELL ROCK            200 210 4 — 9

LOB–CHARLES CITY 8, WAVERLY-SHELL ROCK 6. ERR–Dylan Salinas, Elliott Sinwell, Ryan Willis. 2B–Dylan Salinas (2), JJ Ritter, Jace  Cajthaml, Payton Leonard, Carter Langreck. HBP–Theo Arndt, Carson Kallenberger, Kaden Dewey. SACF–Colton Slinger. SB–Ryan Willis.

CHARLES CITY                    IP    H    R   ER   BB   SO   HR

Theo Arndt                     4.00    7    5    4    2    2    0

Cole  Reams                    2.67    5    4    4    1    2    0

WAVERLY-SHELL ROCK        

Carson Kallenberger            6.00    9    7    6    2    5    0

Malcolm Newell                 1.00    3    1    1    1    0    0

WP–Cole  Reams, Carson Kallenberger. BALK–Theo Arndt.SO–Theo Arndt, Elliott Sinwell, Tait Arndt, Wyatt Stevenson, Cole  Reams, Carter Langreck, Jeremy Chaplin, Luke Willis, Kaden Dewey. BB–Colton Slinger, Elliott Sinwell, Wyatt  Stevenson, Brady Leonard, Payton Leonard, Jeremy Chaplin.