Comets advance to semifinals

VanHauen’s walk-off RBI single leads Comets past Trojans, 5-4

By John Burbridge sports@charlescitypress.com

FORT DODGE — The inning had “walk-off” written all over it.

It just came down to which Comet was going to initiate it.

Tayler Schmidt seemed to be an ideal candidate. After hitting a mammoth homer to regain the lead for Charles City in the third inning during the Comets’ first-round State Softball Championship Class 4A bracket game against Fairfield, the junior led off the bottom of the seventh with the score tied at 4.

Facing Trojan senior Haley Beard, Schmidt got a second chance after her pop-up in foul territory was dropped and a third chance after her infield pop-up was nullified due to an illegal pitch.

We know how this is going to end … or do we?

Schmidt ended up walking, bringinh up to the Comets’ leading home run hitter Sara Martin, who was kept in the park with a single through the left side of the infield.

Senior Bailey Mitchell followed and looked like she was going to be the hero with a drive deep to left field that was gloved at the fence while moving Schmidt to third.

That brought up Shantel VanHauen.

“I just wanted to concentrate on the pitch and get a good one to drive,” VanHauen said after her two-strike single to left-center drove in the winning run in a 5-4 final, sending the Comets to the semifinal round.

“It’s the best feeling in the world,” VanHauen said about recording a winning hit … a winning hit in a state tournament no less.

In last year’s state tournament, VanHauen drove in the tying run during the consolation bracket, which the Comets ended up winning for a fifth-place showing.

There are no consolations in this year’s tournament for the Comets.

“I’m just glad all of our hard work is paying off,” said VanHauen, who will play softball for Graceland University next school season.

“I wasn’t hitting very good at the beginning of the year, but I just kept working on it,” said VanHauen, who according to Comet head coach Brian Bohlen has been swinging the bat more effectively the past 15 games.

But one of the hottest Comets as of late is junior Ciana Sonberg, who was 3 for 4 including a solo homer to centerfield in the first inning to open the scoring before Mitchell’s RBI single made the score 2-0.

Sonberg increased the lead to 3-0 in the second inning with an RBI single, but Fairfield rallied for 3 runs in the third to tie it.

Before the Trojans tied it, Comet catcher Kelby Katcher had to be replaced as an injury she sustained in Charles City’s regional state-qualifying win against top-ranked Benton was re-aggravated.

“She has a broken thumb and I don’t think she is going be able to come back,” Bohlen said of his catcher. “She’s worked so hard over the offseason and it hurts to see a kid having to sit out a state tournament.”

Katcher’s departure forced major adjustments to Charles City’s defensive alignment as Sonberg took over behind the plate, second baseman Schmidt was moved to third to replace Sonberg, and designated player/hitter Madeline Peters was “designated” to take over at second base.

“We never played that defense before, and I think it may have shook Sami up a bit,” Bohlen said of his sophomore ace pitcher Sami Heyer, who yielded five hits — including a game-tying two-run homer by Kaylee Watson — while picking up her 23rd win of the season.

“Sami wasn’t at her best, but our offense — with two home runs — picked her up,” Bohlen said.

The Comets’ defense also came up big. With two Trojan runners on with no outs in the fifth inning, Charles City centerfield Payton Reams was able to drift back to the fence to glove a long-drive by Kenady Waugh.

Then, a strikeout later, backup catcher Sonberg also battled a fence while hustling and diving to catch Allison Rebling’s pop-up in foul territory.

With Wednesday off, the No. 7-seed Comets will face No. 3-seed Ballard 1:30 p.m. Thursday in the semis. Ballard dropped Carlisle to the consolation bracket after jumping out to an 8-0 lead after two innings.

Last season, Carlisle defeated Charles City in the first round.

The other semifinal will feature No. 1-seed Winterset against No. 4-seed Oskaloosa. The championship game is scheduled for 10:10 a.m. Friday at Rogers Sports Complex’s Buena Vista University Diamond.

The third-place game is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Friday at the complex’s Diamond 2.

CHARLES CITY 5, FAIRFIELD 4

Scoring By Innings

FAIRFIELD 003 001 0 — 4 5 3

CHARLES CITY 211 000 1 — 5 7 3

Charles City — Ciana Sonberg 3-4, HR, 2 RBIs; Tayler Schmidt 1-3, HR; Shantel VanHauen 1-3, GW RBI, BB; Bailey Mitchell 1-4, RBI; Sara Martin 1-3, BB; Lisabeth Fiser 1-3; Sami Heyer 7 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 3 SO, 4 BB.

FAIRFIELD — Kaylee Watson 2-3, HR, 2 RBIs; Shaylin Drish 1-2, 2 BB; Haley Beard 6 2/3 IN, 7 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 4 SO, 3 BB.