Tuesday night surely helped to alleviate a year’s worth of missed opportunities.

Chuck sat comfortably less than 20 feet away from home plate at Lynx Field and witnessed the older of the two Hisler boys, CJ, hit first a game-tying two-run triple in the seventh inning and then the game-winning, walk-off single in the eighth, as Webster City escaped with its second extra-innings win of the season, 8-7 over Saydel.

Right by Chuck’s side was his wife, Joan, a proud grandma who let it be known that it was her grandson who came through in the clutch.

Sometimes, sports truly are magnificent.

Sean Carver (6) scores the tying run in the seventh inning as Tyler Olson (3) and Beau Klaver (32) signal him not to slide against Saydel on Tuesday. WCHS won 8-7 in 8 innings. DFJ photo/Troy Banning

Hisler’s two-run triple to deep center with one out erased Saydel’s 7-5 lead. WCHS (8-1), which is now 4-1 in one-run games, put Devon Stoakes and Tyler Olson aboard on singles in the eighth before Hisler roasted another Jayden Cordova offering to deep center. It would have been a stand-up double, quite possibly another triple, had the run not crossed the plate.

“I was just looking for anything in the zone,” CJ Hisler, who went 3 for 5 with three RBIs, said. “I wanted to make contact to help my team get the win. We just pick each other up. If someone is down, someone does something to pick them up.”

WCHS once again managed to pull victory from the jaws of defeat. It was the Lynx fourth win in which they entered the sixth inning trailing.

“In all my years, I’ve never been around a team that can be behind in the later innings and hang,” WCHS head coach Adison Kehoe said. “Maybe that’s just returning everyone (from last season), maybe that’s just luck a little bit, but there’s never been that sense of chaos. The waters have continued to stay calm.”

WCHS had nine hits in the game, two of them and an RBI coming from lead-off stick Ty McKinney. But the Lynx also committed five errors, which led to three unearned runs. The final miscue in the seventh paved the way for Saydel’s Mason Hicks to belt a two-run double to deep center off Zach Dyvig that put the Eagles (2-7) in front, 7-5.

DFJ photo/Troy Banning

And none of it sat well with Kehoe.

“It doesn’t matter if it’s Little League, high school, college, minors or pros, if you give any team, whether they are World Series champs or Team Orange in fourth grade, you give them an extra out and you’re done,” he said. “The baseball gods are freakin’ cruel and we’ve learned that the hard way. But the thing is, (the players) have responded to that.”

Dyvig picked up the win after going two innings in relief of starter Trey Lyons. After the rocky seventh, Dyvig struck out the side in the eighth to set the stage for Hisler’s heroics. He finished with five strikeouts and only allowed the one hit.

Lyons was touched for six hits and he fanned seven over his six innings of work.

Sean Carver added a single and RBI in the win. Lyons provided a base knock as well.

Trevor Lause also laced a double and drove in three runs for Saydel. Cordova was on the hook; he came on in relief of Nathan Jaeger in the fifth.

The Lynx long week continued last night with a North Central Conference clash against St. Edmond in Fort Dodge. They’ll be on the road against Pocahontas Area this evening, followed by a date on Saturday against West Fork.

WCHS 8, Saydel 7

Tuesday at Webster City

Saydel 100 031 20 — 7 7 5

WCHS 210 020 21 — 8 9 5

Nathan Jaeger, Jayden Cordova (5) and Cordova, Nick Gudin (5). Trey Lyons, Zach Dyvig (7) and Devon Stoakes. W — Dyvig. L — Cordova. Multiple hits — WC: CJ Hisler (3), Ty McKinney. 2B — SAY: Trevor Lause, Mason Hicks. 3B — WC: Hisler. RBI — SAY: Lause (3), Hicks (2), Judd Roberts; WC: Hisler (3), McKinney, Sean Carver.