Comets turn on the power in softball DH sweep of Go-Hawks

By John Burbridge sports@charlescitypress.com

WAVERLY — The second game of Tuesday’s Northeast Iowa Conference softball doubleheader between Charles City and hosting Waverly-Shell Rock started just like the first game.

Go-Hawk sophomore pitcher Hanna Fanter struck out Comet leadoff hitter Payton Reams.

That wasn’t a good sign for the Go-Hawks.

Like the first game, the second game ended with a Charles City victory as the Comets swept their traditional rival with scores of 4-0 and 7-6.

Aside from the finals, there were divergences between the two games.

In Game One, Reams hit a 3-run homer to left-centerfield in her second at-bat off Fanter which gave her a team-leading three for the season.

In Game Two, Reams was kept in the park and held to an infield single. But after that first out in the second game, Comet juniors Kelby Katcher and Tayler Schmidt followed with back-to-back solo shots.

Charles City senior Sara Martin, who led the Comets with 11 homers last season, homered in both games. Her solo shot to right-centerfield capped the scoring in the first game; her latter 2-run homer put the Comets up 5-1 in the top of the fifth in the second game.

Comet sophomore Sami Heyer was the complete-game winning pitcher in both games, striking out 14 in the first game before fanning 15 in the second. But aside from the similar strikeout totals, these were two different ballgames for Heyer.

In the first game, Heyer was dominant while throwing her second no-hitter of the season.

In the second game, Heyer needed a little more assistance from her defense and got it when third baseperson Ciana Sonberg snared a hot-liner while playing up-close against Go-Hawk leadoff left-handed slap hitter Kelsey Young for the first W-SR out of the game shortly before first baseperson Shantel VanHauen ended the inning with an all-out diving catch of Fanter’s liner.

Heyer started to struggle with her control and an umpire-squeezed strike zone during her 13th inning of work, walking two runs in with the bases loaded as the Go-Hawks tightened the gap to 5-3.

The Comets got both of those runs back in the top of the seventh with a 2-RBI double by Bailey Mitchell.

In the bottom of the seventh, a 3-run homer to right field by Jaylie Reints drew the Go-Hawks within 2. Soon after, W-SR had the tying and winning runs on base with one out before Heyer struck out the last two hitters to seal the sweep.

Mitchell had two hits in both games for the Comets (5-1, 2-0 Northeast Iowa Conference).