Slow starts doom Comets during 0-3 weekend

By John Burbridge

sports@charlescitypress.com

Some high school sporting events are divided into two halves.

Softball is not one of them.

That said, the “first half” of Friday’s non-conference softball game between Charles City and Cedar Falls went somewhat as expected.

The undefeated hosting Tigers, who had outscored its competition by a 50 to 4 margin, were up 8-0 on the Comets through three innings.

Charles City did itself no favors while falling behind with the Tigers capitalizing on five Comet errors.

Charles City was able to shore up its defense in the latter half of the game, and managed to manufacture a few threats due to some fine two-strike hitting.

But the Comets couldn’t get that one extra hit to break loose a rally and eventually lost 9-1.

Sophomore leadoff hitter Emerson Bohlen was 2 for 4, eighth-grader Edie Collins doubled, and senior Ava Ellis drove in her team’s lone run with an RBI single for the Comets against the Tigers.

While hosting the Jerry Newton Classic at the Comet Sports Complex on Saturday, the Comets again found themselves in a hole early in both of their games before surging late yet falling short.

In the first game of the classic, Charles City fell behind Columbus Catholic 7-0 through three-and-a-half innings. In the bottom of the seventh, the Comets had the tying and winning runs on second and third but were unable to bring them in, resulting in a 8-7 loss to the Sailors.

In the final game of the classic, Class 1A No. 14-ranked Clarksville jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the top of the first before winning 17-5 in six innings.

Comet senior Delaney Ruzicka had an RBI triple against the Sailors before hitting a solo shot over the right-field fence for the team’s first home run of the season against the Indians.

Bohlen and Laura Staudt both went 2 for 4 against Columbus Catholic; Ellis was 2 for 3 with a run scored against Clarksville.

Charles City (1-4) will travel to Waverly-Shell Rock on Tuesday for a Northeast Iowa Conference softball doubleheader against the Go-Hawks.