The Iowa Falls-Alden softball team used a strong finish to get past Hampton-Dumont-CAL 10-6 Thursday in a game that was continued from a suspension earlier in the season.
Beginning the game in the bottom of the third inning with Iowa Falls-Aldenleading 4-2, the Cadets scored another in the fourth for a 5-2 lead. Needing to gain offensive momentum, Hampton-Dumont-CAL loaded the bases in the sixth inning, and Maren Subbert blasted a grand slam to straightaway center field for a 6-5 lead. It was the first home run of her career. In the seventh, Iowa Falls-Alden gutted out a comeback. Addison Vanderloop drove in the first run to tie the game, and Montana Thies drove in three more on a triple for a 9-6 lead. Erica Baker finished it off with an RBI double. Cadet pitcher Cidni Phipps on the comeback.
“They had a really good hit that got a lot of runners in and they just played solid defense pretty much the whole day,” Phipps says. “I think overall we just had some good hits.”
Head Coach Emily Banken was proud of the team’s resilience in the seventh inning.
“We know that the girls can hit, it’s just sometimes we struggle stringing them together like that,” Banken says. “So that’s something that we’ve been really pushing, especially after a tough loss last night. We left 12 girls on and so we just really emphasized that we can’t be doing that. We have to find ways to move around and get them in. I think they really gritted their teeth and found a way to do it and it was great.”
Hampton-Dumont-CAL coach Kelsey Enslin hopes the team can grow from facing pressure situations.
“You you don’t go into games very often and you’re down 4-2,” Enslin says. “So we talked about that last night and how we needed to come with that offensive mentality. And even just like at our last game, we became offensive a little bit too late late in the game. But yeah, it was kind of that moment, Maren, I knew at some point it was going to go over. So for her to hit one in that situation was awesome. And then we were sitting there and I’m like, OK, three outs and we just, you know, wasn’t meant to be. And we have such young team. But with our young pitchers, and just them developing into high pressure situations and those things, just really looking to grow as we move forward.”
Subbert on the home run.
“I like my outside spots and I kind of just swung and I was just like, please go over,” Subbert says. “I’m working off an elbow injury this season. So I keeping consistent, doing the same drills every day, getting back to 100% and just keep practicing and going.”
They split the season series after the Bulldogs won 10-8 in eight innings at Iowa Falls-Alden earlier in the season.
In other Thursday action, the Bulldog baseball team fell 10-0 in six innings at Boone. Blaek Burmester, Taylor Mahler and William Vosburg recorded the team’s three hits.
