WEBSTER CITY – Getting a lead hasn’t necessarily been a problem this season for the Webster City softball team.

Keeping it? Now that’s a different story.

Whether it’s pressure situations that cause mistakes or simply the fact that opponents catch fire late, the Lynx have faltered when it comes to closing the deal.

Monday’s regular season finale served as a microcosm of sorts, as Humboldt rallied from a 5-2 deficit by scoring four runs in the top of the seventh inning to stun WCHS, 6-5, at Lynx Field on Senior Night.

WCHS (13-19, 8-6 NCC) slipped to 1-7 in one-run games and enters the postseason on a three-game skid, all in one-run decisions. The purple and gold was either tied or led in the seventh inning of four of those losses.

“Anytime you get in a streak where you’re not coming out on top and you have your opportunities, it gets frustrating,” WCHS head coach Jess Howard said. “But we do have that ability to come out on top, it’s just wanting the ball every single time it’s pitched and wanting to make that play.”

Humboldt (19-10, 10-4 NCC) secured outright ownership of second place in the North Central Conference standings. WCHS will finish either alone in third or tied with Iowa Falls-Alden depending on the outcome of the Cadets’ final league contest against Clear Lake.

The Wildcats dropped the last-inning hammer on the Lynx for the second time this season. The rivals were knotted at 1 going into the final frame on June 10 when Humboldt plated a run to win, 2-1.

But it was more of what the Lynx didn’t do this time around. A pair of throwing errors – one by third baseman Courtney Lampman was more bad luck than an errant throw when her online strike to the plate struck Kelsey Peters in the shoulder – in the seventh inning led to three unearned runs and junior pitcher Gabbi Hoversten was left to take the loss despite one of her better outings of the season.

Avery Terwilliger laid down a sacrifice bunt that brought Maggy Duffield sprinting to the dish with the winning run.

“We’ve got to make better choices throughout the game,” Howard said. “We need to handle pressure situations just a little bit better.”

Duffield and Terwilliger both smacked a pair of hits and drove in a combined three runs.

WCHS touched Terwilliger for 10 hits, including all three of the game’s extra-base knocks – doubles by Hannah Myers and Mikaleh McCoy, and a triple by Allie Flaws.

Terwilliger fanned seven, four of them coming in the initial three innings.

The Lynx finally got to the Wildcats’ hurler in the fourth and pushed three runs across to jump in front, 3-1. Hannah Myers ignited the surge with a base hit to left; she stole second and third, and raced home on an errant throw.

Cassidy Nerland drew a one-out walk and then dashed home on McCoy’s shot into the gap in left-center. Pinch-runner Haley Flaws took over and eventually scored on Lampman’s liner up the gut.

Myers’ two-bagger came with one out in the fifth; she scored two batters later when Nerland crushed a shot to deep center for a RBI single. McCoy also drove in her second run in the frame on a suicide squeeze bunt to up the Lynx cushion to 5-1.

Allie Flaws, Myers and McCoy all finished with two hits. Taylor Schnathorst and Catie Boyd added singles.

“I thought we adjusted really well (at the plate), but I’d like to see us adjust a little bit sooner,” Howard said. “But (Terwilliger) does a good job of moving the ball around.

Hoversten, who at one point sat down 11 consecutive batters, walked two and struck out two. Only three of Humboldt’s runs were earned.

The good news for WCHS is that it will get the chance to turn the tables rather quickly. The Lynx and Wildcats will meet again in a Class 4A Region 2 quarterfinal on Thursday in Humboldt at 7 p.m.

“Anytime you lose you hope there’s a little fire to get them the next time,” Howard said. “Hopefully we’ve got (Terwilliger’s) rhythm down and they’re ready for it on Thursday.”

The winner will advance to Saturday’s semifinal round against ninth-ranked and 2014 state champion Dallas Center-Grimes in Dallas Center.