Comets dominate competition while improving to 12-0

By John Burbridge
sports@charlescitypress.com
CHARLES CITY — So what did you do with your weekend?

The Charles City Comets spent much of theirs doing circuits around the bases while keeping their opponents off them.

Competing in an invitational at North Fayette Valley on Friday before hosting their annual tournament Saturday at Sportsmen’s Park, the Comets went 5-0 during the weekend while improving to 12-0 for the season.

But that only tells part of the story when it comes to how dominant the Class 4A No. 4-ranked Comets were over that two-day span.

This is where some raw numbers add to the perspective.

The Comets outscored the competition 48-2 in those five games, which included wins over Don Bosco (21-0) and Kee (12-0) on Friday, and wins over Iowa Falls-Alden (14-2), North Butler (6-0) and Waukon (5-0) on Saturday.

The wins against North Butler and Waukon were stopped short of seven innings due to time limits.

Some other numbers that jump out at you are those compiled by Charles City’s senior two-time all-state pitcher Sami Heyer, who is due to pitch for Northern Iowa’s Division 1 program next school season. In four of the five aforementioned games, Heyer yielded one hit, one walk and no runs while striking out 36 in 16 innings pitched.

Sophomore Dani Reetz picked up the abbreviated complete-game win in the Comets’ first game against Iowa Falls-Alden on Saturday.

At North Fayette Valley, the Comets — who have a penchant this season of addling opponents with small-ball tactics — played a little long ball against the Dons and the Hawks.

Against Don Bosco, Comet freshman Rachel Chambers had a pair of home runs and drove in 7 runs.

Against Kee, Chambers hit another home runs as did teammates Allie Cross and Sadie Gebel.
Thus far this season, Chambers leads the Comets with four homers and 20 RBIs. Cross and Gebel each have two homers.

Arguably, the toughest challenge the Comets faced during the weekend came from southern neighbors North Butler. The Bearcats came into Sportsmen’s Park with only one loss and were coming off an 11-1 win over Top of Iowa-East rival Rockford, which is amidst a winning season.

North Butler eighth-grader Kiya Johnson was pitching well early on against counterpart Heyer, but it was Heyer’s bat that ultimately broke the game open after a scoreless tie through two innings as she drove in 3 runs with a pair of two-out triples.

In the subsequent win against Waukon for the Charles City tourney championship, junior leadoff hitter Liz Fiser had three hits and scored twice.

After Heyer struck out 10 and yielded no hits and walks in four innings during the championship game, Reetz pitched two shutout innings in relief.

Before the weekend, the Comets swept Waukon in a Northeast Iowa Conference doubleheader.

Next up for the Comets is an away game Tuesday in Forest City.

CHARLES CITY 14, IOWA FALLS-ALDEN 2
IFA AB R H BI CC AB R H BI
Elliot Wood 2 0 0 0 Lisabeth Fiser 3 2 2 2
Makenna Meyer 2 0 1 0 Lydia Staudt 2 2 2 1
Grace Renaud 2 0 1 1 Brooke Vance 1 2 1 0
Rilee McKibben 2 0 0 0 Rachel Chambers 3 0 1 2
Lorren Steinfeldt 2 0 0 0 Allie Cross 1 2 1 1
Rana Janes 1 0 0 0 Sami Heyer 1 1 1 2
Caleigh Osterman 1 0 0 0 Ava Ellis 1 1 1 0
Mikayla Fjeld 1 0 1 0 Alex Litterer 2 2 2 3
H.Bridgewater 1 1 1 0 Emma Grimm 2 0 1 1
*A. Gillespie 0 1 0 0 Delaney Ruzicka 1 1 0 0
Sadie Gebel 2 1 2 2
TOTALS 14 2 4 1 TOTALS 19 14 14 14
IOWA FALLS-ALDEN 002 — 2
CHARLES CITY 68x — 14
LOB–IOWA FALLS-ALDEN 3, CHARLES CITY 1.
2B–Rachel Chambers, Allie Cross, Sami Heyer, Sadie Gebel. HBP–Allie Cross. SB–Makenna Meyer, Lisabeth Fiser, Lydia Staudt, Brooke Vance.
IOWA FALLS-ALDEN IP H R ER BB SO HR
Makala Peterson 2.00 14 14 14 1 0 0
CHARLES CITY
Dani Reetz 3.00 4 2 2 0 1 0
PB–Caleigh Osterman. WP–Makala Peterson. SO–Rana Janes. BB–Delaney Ruzicka.

CHARLES CITY 21, DON BOSCO 0
CC AB R H BI DB AB R H BI
Lisabeth Fiser 4 3 3 1 Kennedi Purdy 1 0 0 0
Lydia Staudt 4 4 4 2 Ashley Grapp 1 0 0 0
Rachel Chambers 4 3 3 7 Jenna Brown 1 0 0 0
Allie Cross 4 2 2 1 Brooklynn Schares 1 0 0 0
Sami Heyer 2 2 1 0 Tatum Bedard 1 0 0 0
Alex Litterer 1 1 1 0 Hailey Ortner 1 0 0 0
Dani Reetz 2 1 1 2 Maysen Bruess 1 0 0 0
Emma Grimm 3 2 1 3 Kaylee Peters 1 0 0 0
Ava Ellis 2 1 0 1 Hope Moore 1 0 0 0
Sadie Gebel 3 1 1 0
*Brooke Vance 0 1 0 0
TOTALS 29 21 17 17 TOTALS 9 0 0 0
CHARLES CITY 1092 0 — 21
DON BOSCO 000 x — 0
LOB–CHARLES CITY 2, DON BOSCO 0.
ERR–Maysen Bruess (2), Jenna Brown, Ashley Grapp, Kaylee Peters, Hope Moore (2). 2B–Lisabeth Fiser, Emma Grimm, Dani Reetz. HR–Rachel Chambers (2). SB–Rachel Chambers, Lisabeth Fiser (2), Lydia Staudt (2).
CHARLES CITY IP H R ER BB SO HR
Sami Heyer 3.00 0 0 0 0 8 0
DON BOSCO
Kylie McMahon 0.67 6 10 4 2 1 2
Hope Moore 2.33 11 11 10 1 1 0
PB–Jenna Brown. WP–Hope Moore. SO–Ava Ellis, Sadie Gebel, Maysen Bruess, Kennedi Purdy, Hailey Ortner, Jenna Brown, Ashley Grapp, Kaylee Peters, Brooklynn Schares, Hope

CHARLES CITY 12, KEE 0
CC AB R H BI KEE AB R H BI
Lisabeth Fiser 3 2 1 1 Katie Brennan 2 0 0 0
Lydia Staudt 3 1 2 3 Reagan Mudderman 2 0 0 0
Rachel Chambers 2 2 2 1 Makayla Walleser 2 0 0 0
Allie Cross 2 1 1 3 Ashlyn Seitz 1 0 0 0
Sami Heyer 3 0 2 0 Macy Manning 2 0 0 0
Alex Litterer 3 1 1 0 Kristina Dibert 2 0 0 0
Emma Grimm 1 0 1 2 Elena Rolfs 1 0 1 0
Delaney Ruzicka 2 0 0 0 Heather Mooney 1 0 0 0
Sadie Gebel 3 2 2 2 Makayla Peters 1 0 0 0
*Dani Reetz 0 2 0 0
*Brooke Vance 0 1 0 0
TOTALS 22 12 12 12 TOTALS 14 0 1 0
CHARLES CITY 101 100 — 12
KEE 000 0x — 0
LOB–CHARLES CITY VARSITY 4, KEE VARSITY 3. ERR–Allie Cross. 2B–Lisabeth Fiser, Emma Grimm. HR–Rachel Chambers,Allie Cross, Sadie Gebel. SB–Lisabeth Fiser, Lydia Staudt.
CHARLES CITY IP H R ER BB SO HR
Sami Heyer 4.00 1 0 0 1 7 0
KEE
Makayla Walleser 3.33 11 11 11 6 1 2
Elena Rolfs 0.67 1 1 1 0 1 1
PB–Kristina Dibert. WP–Makayla Walleser (2). SO–Delaney Ruzicka (2), Kristina Dibert, Macy Manning, Makayla Walleser, Heather Mooney, Makayla Peters, Reagan Mudderman (2). BB–Rachel Chambers, Lisabeth Fiser, Allie Cross, EmmaGrimm (2), Delaney Ruzicka, Ashlyn Seitz.