Comets strike again before 2nd game of DH suspended
Charles City cleanup hitter Sara Martin puts the ball in play during the first game of the Comets’ Northeast Iowa Conference doubleheader against Decorah. The Comets won the first game, 4-0, and were leading 3-0 in the second game before it was suspended due to weather.
By John Burbridge sports@charlescitypress.com
CHARLES CITY — Some teams threaten to score before repeatedly producing nothing except a running total of stranded runners.
Then other teams take the form of a sleeping if not contained giant before striking like a … um … bolt of lightning for a flash of instant offense.
On Thursday, the visiting Decorah Vikings and their starting pitcher Elizabeth Hartman held the normally explosive Charles City Comets attack in check through four innings. That all changed in the bottom of the fifth with one out and two Comets aboard when leadoff hitter Payton Reams hit a shot that just got in on the fair side of the left-field foul pole for her eighth homer of the season.
The Comets added a fourth run in the sixth with an RBI infield out by Lisabeth Fiser.
The 4-0 lead was more than enough for sophomore starter Sami Heyer to protect as the Comets went on to win by that score while improving to 28-3 for the season and 15-2 in the Northeast Iowa Conference.
For Heyer, it was her 19th win of the season pair with just two losses. Against the Vikings, Heyer yielded just four hits while striking out nine and walking two.
With the score still tied at zero in the top half of the fifth, Heyer and the Comets were in a jam after Alex Hable walked ahead of Natalie Heffern’s double placing runners on third and second with one out.
Charles City then got a break when Viking junior Katie Nimrod, with two strikes on her, stepped out the box without being granted time by the umpire. Heyer took advantage by throwing strike three before getting Lauryn Eggert to pop-out.
The Vikings had other opportunities but couldn’t bring anything across as they ended up stranding nine runners.
Fiser was 2 for 3 with that RBI, Tayler Schmidt was also 2 for 3, and Bailey Mitchell doubled for the Comets, who have now won 12 straight going into this weekend’s tournament at the University of Iowa Softball Complex.
The Comets were on their way to their 13th-straight in the second game of Thursday’s scheduled doubleheader.
With RBI singles by Lisabeth Fiser, Ciana Sonberg and Kelby Katcher, the Comets were leading 3-0 through three innings before lightning-plague weather suspended the game.
CHARLES CITY 4, DECORAH 0
DECORAH AB R H BI CHARLES CITY AB R H BI
Katie Nimrod 4 0 0 0 Payton Reams 4 1 1 3
Lauryn Eggert 3 0 0 0 Ciana Sonberg 3 0 0 0
Rylee Monteith 4 0 1 0 Tayler Schmidt 3 0 2 0
Hailey Nierling 2 0 0 0 Sara Martin 2 0 0 0
Elizabeth Smith 1 0 0 0 Bailey Mitchell 3 0 1 0
Laiton Ihde 2 0 1 0 Shantel Vanhauen 3 1 0 0
Amy Pipho 3 0 0 0 Kelby Katcher 2 0 0 0
Elizabeth Hartman 3 0 0 0 Cora Crooks 3 0 1 0
Alex Hable 2 0 1 0 Lisabeth Fiser 3 1 1 1
Natalie Heffern 3 0 1 0 *Kiki Connell 0 1 0 0
TOTALS 27 0 4 0 TOTALS 26 4 6 4
DECORAH 000 000 0 — 0
CHARLES CITY 000 031 x — 4
LOB–DECORAH 9, CHARLES CITY 6. ERR–Maddie Clement, Hailey Nierling (2), Tayler Schmidt, Ciana Sonberg. 2B–Natalie Heffern, Bailey Mitchell. HR–Payton Reams. HBP–Lauryn Eggert. SB–Madison
Sexton, Lisabeth Fiser, Kiki Connell, Tayler Schmidt (2).
DECORAH IP H R ER BB SO HR
Elizabeth Hartman (L) 6.00 6 4 2 2 2 1
CHARLES CITY
Sami Heyer (W) 7.00 4 0 0 2 9 0
PB–Lauryn Eggert, Kelby Katcher (2). SO–Rylee Monteith, Elizabeth Smith, Natalie Heffern, Amy Pipho, Laiton Ihde, Lauryn Eggert, Katie Nimrod, Elizabeth Hartman (2), Cora Crooks, Payton Reams. BB–Laiton Ihde, Alex Hable, Sara Martin, Kelby Katcher.
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