Bears win in walk-off fashion in extra innings, 9-8, over North Mahaska

NORTH ENGLISH — The price of admission was well worth it in this SICL dual Monday night with some free softball at the end.

English Valleys defeated North Mahaska 9-8 in nine innings in a back and forth game that ended with a Kennedy Axmear walk-off single.

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After a few errors in the top of the first, North Mahaska got up 3-0 early.

English Valleys Delaney Hall hit a double in the bottom of the inning and scored off a wild pitch making it 3-1 after an inning of play.

“It was an uncharacteristic first inning for us,” English Valleys head coach Steve Hester said.

“But it’s been their theme all year battling through adversity.”

The second inning was three up, three down for both teams.

An RBI single from North Mahaska’s Kayla Readshaw in the third extended the lead to 4-1.

The Bears responded right away with a two-run home run from Hall.

“She’s our leadoff for a reason,” Hester said.

“It was good to see her hit the gaps tonight.”

Hall also added two singles later in the game making her a triple short of the cycle.

The bats kept hot for the Bears in the fourth, scoring two more runs after singles from both Ada Mews and Imigyn Stratton.

Mews scored off a wild pitch, and Aubrey Auchenbach drove in Stratton.

The Bears were not done there.

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After another 1-2-3 inning from Bears pitcher Axmear, the Bears scored three more runs in the bottom of the fifth.

A Sac Fly from Axmear and a two-RBI single from Stratton made it 8-4 after five innings of play.

North Mahaska would not go away without a fight.

The Warhawks are also a very young team with no seniors and only one junior on their roster.

Freshman Jocelyn Pinkerton hit a home run to dead center field in the top of the sixth and Madeline Doonan hit an RBI single, making it 8-6 heading to the seventh.

North Mahaska added two runs to tie it up after capitalizing on a few Bears errors and held them off in the bottom of the inning to make this one head to extra innings.

Extra innings became a pitching duel between Axmear and North Mahaska’s Regan Grewe.

The eighth inning and top of the ninth were all three up, three down with four of the six outs coming via strikeout for Axmear.

Axmear pitched all nine innings with 13 strikeouts and near 140 pitches total on the night.

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“I felt good the whole game,” Axmear said after pitching nine innings.

“I’m used to it, and my trainer puts me through good cool downs after games.”

The bats finally got going again for the Bears in the bottom of the ninth.

A single from Anna Luers started things off which then followed two successful bunts.

Bases were loaded with no outs for Axmear.

Axmear delivered with a walk-off single.

“It was only fitting Kennedy (Axmear) hit the walk-off,” Hester said.

“Our seniors came through for us late in this game.”

The Bears are now 9-2 on the season and are second in the conference standings behind Sigourney following last night’s game.

“It’s been a great start to the season. We are winning a lot of close games,” Hester said.

The Bears will face Montezuma Wednesday and travel to Hillcrest Academy to face Holy Trinity Catholic Saturday to close out the week.