Waverly rallies end Comets’ season

By John Burbridge

sports@charlescitypress.com

WAVERLY — Maybe this is why teams get three outs an inning.

Two times the Charles City Comets were one out away from moving on to the next frame harm free, and two times Waverly-Shell Rock rallied for five runs while striking like a storm front suddenly forming in a clear blue sky.

The first rally was in the first inning; the second in the fifth, which ended the game (10-0) as well as the Comets’ season during the Class 3A Substate Baseball Tournament semifinal round Friday at Wartburg College.

The Go-Hawks (21-10) advance to the Substate championship game today against Decorah, which defeated Crestwood, 4-2, in Friday’s earlier semifinal.

Charles City, which finished the season at 7-20, came in as the tourney’s underdog, yet did have a come-from-behind victory over the top-seeded Go-Hawks earlier in the season.

After W-SR left-handed starter Andrew Epley sent the Comets down in order in the top of the first, it appeared that Comet counterpart Theo Arndt was also going to get out of his half with no damage. Aside from hitting Jordan Chandler in the helmet, Arndt was able to get leadoff hitter Dalton Steere and third-spot hitter Dalton Craven to fly out and pop out, respectively, making it two outs and Chandler three stations away from scoring at first.

But then the Go-Hawks got going.

Josh Buresh chased Chandler home with a long double; Tanner Krueger doubled in two more runs after Jackson Little became the second hit batsmen of the inning; and then after a catcher interference call put another Go-Hawk on base, Cole Havlovic doubled in two more runs.

Reliever Nate Lasher came on to pitch a 1-2-3 inning in the second and two more scoreless innings in the third and fourth. When Lasher whirled to pick Steere off second base after shortstop Arndt snuck in behind him, there were two outs in the fifth with no Go-Hawks on base.

But soon after, Buresh drove in a run with a single; Krueger hit his second two-run double of the game; and then Havlovic hit a walk-off single driving in the final two runs of the game.

“You’ve got to tip your hats off to them,” Comets coach Tyler Downing said. “They hit the ball well. You’ve got to really locate your pitches when you go up against them.”

Even when they weren’t getting hits and scoring runs, the Go-Hawks were making resounding contact for most of the game. It took several fine running catches by Comet outfielders — in particular left fielder Tyler Brockney who made an over-the-shoulder catch in the scoreless second inning — to keep W-SR’s offense at bay for the time being.

Unable to get fully through the lineup twice against Epley, the Comets only had one hit (Arndt) and one walk (Colton Slinger).

Epley struck out seven. Krueger and Havlovic drove in four and three runs, respectively.

Charles City lost eight seniors from last season, but will have its entire starting rotation back next season — Arndt, Lasher, Drew Mitchell and Jordan Kapping — as well as its top hitters — Arndt (.329) and Lasher (.308).

“We’re a young team that’s only going to get better,” Downing said. “I know a lot of our guys plays other sports throughout the year and don’t specialize like athletes from bigger schools, but we like that. We encourage our guys to be well-rounded athletes.”

Charles City’s season was plagued by flooding issues at Sportsmen’s Park, which forced the Comets to relocate several of its home games. It also made practices cumbersome.

“Even this week it was too wet to use the whole outfield for practice,” Downing said. “When you come here (at Wartburg College) where the fence is 380 to centerfield, you’d like to have more than 300 feet of outfield to practice on.”

If and when there is a major renovation at Sportsmen’s Park, or if another field gets built on another site, Downing hopes an artificial infield like they have at Wartburg will be considered.

“It would pay for itself as it doesn’t require nearly as much maintenance,” Downing said. “And when you play a doubleheader, you don’t need to spend all that time between games to line the bases and boxes. Just get ready to play again.”

WAVERLY-SHELL ROCK 10,

CHARLES CITY 0

Scoring By Innings

CC 000 00 — 0 1 2

WSR 500 05 — 10 8 0

WP — Andrew Epley (WSR) 5 IN, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 7 SO.

LP — Theo Arndt (CC) 0.67 IN, 3 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 0 BB, 0 SO.

Leading Hitters — Charles City: Theo Arndt (1-2); Waverly-Shell Rock: Tanner Krueger (2-3, 2 2B, 4 RBIs), Cole Havlovic (2-3, 3 RBIs).