Wild week of softball regionals ends with goose egg for Union coverage area

As five o’clock approached in Winfield on Monday, fans of the 15th-ranked (1A) Winfield-Mount Union Wolves and Highland Huskies gathered at the softball field to finally finish what was started three days prior.

With just over one inning to play in a 0-0 tie the Friday before, the Class 1A Region 8 semifinal was suspended due to weather and set to pick up one day later. The rains didn’t stop on Saturday, and the contest was suspended for a second time.

With one out in the bottom of the sixth inning, the Huskies were in a bind. WMU leadoff hitter Carlee Sloan was standing on third base, and the middle of the Wolves’ order was up, with catcher Anna Anderson standing at the plate with two outs.

“That part was really hard,” said Highland head coach Carrie Wieland. “Plus we had our All-Conference meeting in between there.”

Wieland said her squad went through every situation. No matter where the ball was hit, the Huskies would be prepared.

“We practiced and we went through all the scenarios that could happen,” Wieland said. “All of those steps were there.”

Relief pitcher Jessica Kraus, who had come in to the game in the sixth inning to replace Grace Batcheller, on Friday, got two straight outs to escape the jam. Eight innings later, Highland polished off a 1-0 victory.

Highland’s ability to escape a four-day jam was just one of the many twists and turns the local tournaments.

The area’s three big schools soon became one after Washington and Mt. Pleasant were ousted in the first round last Thursday, though both squads gave early hope to fans who traveled for the games.

In Oskaloosa, Washington scored first. The Demons held a short-lived 1-0 lead, before the Indians responded with six straight over the next three frames to end the Demons’ season.

In Keokuk, the heavy underdog Mt. Pleasant Panthers were putting up one heck of a fight. Mt. Pleasant held a 4-0 lead after its second at-bat and threatened to beat the Chiefs after getting 10-run ruled in their previous four matchups. Keokuk would eventually crawl back to win 6-5 on a walk-off single in the seventh.

Two days later, after narrowly escaping Mt. Pleasant, Keokuk gave a little scare to the No. 10 (4A) Fairfield Trojans.

Fairfield had to battle back from two different deficits to beat a team it whipped four times in the regular season. Keokuk was up 3-0 after its first at-bat and even held a 5-3 advantage in the fifth.

The Trojans were, however, able to stave off a hungry Keokuk team. Fairfield would rally with two in their half of the fifth and put up seven in the bottom of the sixth to escape a monster upset with a 12-5 win.

The biggest surprise of the area, however, might have been the play of the Cardinal Comets. After finishing the year fourth in the Southeast Iowa Super Conference’s South Division, Cardinal put together one of the best postseason runs of anyone around, which led them to the Class 2A Region 7 final.

After beating Mediapolis 11-1 in the first round, Cardinal knocked off a pair of Top-15 teams, traveling to knock off No. 11 Wapello 4-3, and winning 3-0 at No. 15 Van Buren County, helped out by a three-run homer from sophomore Ava Ferrell.

On Tuesday, however, the twists turned on all three Union area teams left in their respective fields. Fairfield didn’t have enough firepower to take down No. 4 (4A) Carlisle, falling 8-0. Highland saw a 5-3 lead evaporate in an 8-6 loss to No. 3 (1A) Lisbon, and in maybe the cruelest twist of fate, Cardinal’s 4-1 seventh-inning lead turned into a 5-4 extra inning loss at No. 14 (2A) Iowa City Regina.

So when Rogers Sports Complex in Fort Dodge welcomes in the 40 squads fortunate enough to earn a berth at next week’s state tournament the Union area teams will be absent, at least until next year when the postseason tides begin to turn once more.