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SH softball rallies once, can’t twice in HOIC loss

JEWELL – Unpredictable down to the final pitch, the South Hamilton softball players were forced to ride a roller coaster of emotions throughout Wednesday night’s extra-inning contest at the Mike Penning Athletic Complex.

The Hawks were riding high early, in a hole in the seventh, back on top after one rally, then disappointed again after a second comeback came up 60 feet short in a 10-9, 8-inning loss to Heart of Iowa Conference rival North Polk.

Trailing 10-7 entering the bottom of the eighth, the Hawks (5-5, 2-5 HOIC) battled back to within a run on back-to-back RBI base hits by Alissa Moss and Kayla Lucas. Moss was at third base when Comets’ relief hurler Sophie Swygman got Alyssa Hegland swinging on a pitch around her knees to end the wild contest.

It was the second straight loss and third consecutive league setback for South Hamilton. The frustrating part was the Hawks led 5-1 after two innings, but several suspect defensive plays and the Comets’ ability to succeed playing small ball in the middle innings turned the tide.

“Overall I’m proud of the fight the girls showed. We never give up and that’s really going to help us at the end of the year,” South Hamilton head coach Laura Read said. “But defensively we just need to take care of outs.”

South Hamilton took advantage of three North Polk errors in the second to build the four-run lead. But the Hawks returned the favor with two miscues a half-inning later that allowed the Comets to pull within 5-3.

The visitors knotted the game at 5 in the fifth and then went in front 7-5 with two more runs in the top of the seventh courtesy of a RBI base hit by Paige Sandberg and a RBI sacrifice fly by Cali Capaldo.

South Hamilton needed just one swing to draw even.

With one out in the bottom of the seventh, Ady Wintermote belted a line-drive single to left, and just a few pitches later Hegland turned on a Olivia Patterson offering and hammered a bullet down the left-field line. It smacked off the top of the fence and went over for a two-run home run – her third round-tripper of the season.

“We managed to find a way to come back and that was huge,” Read said. “It was a huge momentum shifter for us.”

It didn’t last long though.

North Polk went right back on the offensive in the eighth, as Makayla Burt and Rebecca Rimathe delivered back-to-back doubles; Rimathe’s liner into right-center plated a pair of runs.

Burt was a thorn in the Hawks’ side all night. The senior slugger went 4-for-5, highlighted by a first-inning solo home run to right, and scored four runs. She sits tied for fourth in the state with six dingers and upped her batting average to .530.

“We knew (Burt and Rimathe) were powerful … they came out swinging big,” Read said.

Rimathe’s two-run gap shot came just two pitches after a controversial call gave her new life at the plate. While attempting to lay down a sacrifice bunt, the ball hit Rimathe as she took off. The field umpire deemed she touched the ball while still in the batter’s box, but Read felt it hit her outside the box, which would have been an out.

“That’s just a judgement call I guess,” Read said.

North Polk owned a 12-10 edge in hits. Kali Lucas went 4-for-4 and scored twice out of the No. 8 hole for the Hawks. Kayla Lucas added a pair of base knocks, and Leandra Diersen smacked one single.

Diersen suffered the loss in the circle. She went 7 1/3 innings and allowed five earned runs. Wintermote took over in relief in the eighth.

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