Saydel’s potent lineup makes it hard for any pitcher to catch her breath. Up and down the lineup, the Eagles hit the ball, oftentimes hard.

No. 15-ranked (Class 3A) Saydel rattled off 11 hits, and yet it needed to scratch a run across in the seventh to put Webster City away for a 4-3 non-conference victory.

Truthfully, there really wasn’t much for Lynx head coach Jess Howard to complain about. Her freshman hurler threw well and her defense played error-free.

Where WCHS struggled was at the plate, as Eagles’ fireballer Dakota Lake overwhelmed the Lynx bats with 11 strikeouts against just three hits allowed. Hard-throwing with a sneaky riseball to boot, Lake simply overpowered many of the hitters that stepped into the batter’s box.

WCHS second baseman Jenna Miller (left) makes a catch as Ellie Weinschenk provides back-up against Saydel on Tuesday. DFJ photo/Troy Banning

“It took us a little bit to get used to her,” Howard said. “We bumped up the pitching machine to make sure we were ready for her, but when it’s the first time you’ve seen somebody that fast, it takes a little bit to get caught up to it.

“It’s good for us to see a pitcher like that. She’s got a really nice riseball that we bit on too many times. But we’ve got a lot of young girls that haven’t seen a riseball before and it’s good to see that in a non-conference game.”

Lake also roped three hits, as she and Saydel (9-4) lead-off hitter Rylee Carney went a combined 6 for 7 at the plate. Lake had the game’s only extra-base hit — a seventh-inning double into the gap in right-center.

Stoakes supplied WCHS (8-2) with two of its three hits. She lined a base knock into left to open the bottom of the first inning, and courtesy runner Cloe Savitski eventually scored on a safety squeeze RBI bunt by Leah Kasch to give the Lynx an early 1-0 advantage.

Stoakes also belted a Lake offering into left in the fifth to drive in Adeline Tesdahl, aboard with a single to center, to pull WCHS within 3-2.

WCHS freshman Adeline Tesdahl gives Lynx assistant coach Brad VanDeer a smile following her fifth-inning single against Saydel on Tuesday. It was one of just three hits for WCHS in a 4-3 loss. DFJ photo/Troy Banning

But between Stoakes’ first single and Tesdahl’s two-out knock, Lake retired 13 consecutive batters, six of them on strikes.

Savitski’s speed generated the tying run in the sixth, this time as a pinch-runner. She took over at first for Livia Kasch, who drew a one-out walk, and promptly stole second and third. She raced home on a passed ball to even the contest at 3.

Savitski, just an eighth grader, has swiped 23 bases on the season, running primarily for Stoakes, without being thrown out.

“She’s young, but she’s aggressive and she knows the game,” Howard said of Savitski. “She’s not tentative and she doesn’t second-guess a steal sign. She’s chomping at the bit to get the next one … we’ve got a real big asset with her on our team and we’ve been able to utilize her quite a bit.”

Saydel erased its early deficit with a three-run third inning, keyed by a two-RBI single to right by Deleaney Shinn. Lake shoved another run across on a sacrifice fly into shallow right.

WCHS shortstop Alayna Finucan (right) shows her surprise when Saydel’s Dakota Lake (19) is called safe at second on Tuesday. DFJ photo/Troy Banning

“They come out and attack pitches,” Howard said. “They’re not always necessarily deep balls, but you’ve got to play them because they can hit that deep ball.”

Saydel scored the winning run in the seventh after Carney led-off with a line-drive single up the middle. She went from first to third on a Shinn sacrifice bunt and then slid under the tag applied by Stoakes at the plate on a ground ball off the bat of Rachel Barton.

Bargfrede struck out four and walked two in her first loss of the season. The freshman showed Howard something, as she worked out of several jams. Saydel stranded eight on base, including four in scoring position.

“Our defense and Delainey, we did a good job of keeping our composure,” Howard said. “They applied pressure in just about every inning, but we never got rattled and just made that next play.”

Saydel 4, WCHS 3

Lynx first baseman Livia Kasch watches the ball into her glove during the first inning on Tuesday. DFJ photo/Troy Banning

Tuesday at Webster City

Saydel 003 000 1 — 4 11 1

WCHS 100 011 0 — 3 3 0

Dakota Lake and Brooklyn Leydens. Delainey Bargfrede and Kelly Stoakes. W — Lake. L — Bargfrede. Multiple hits — SAY: Lake (3), Rylee Carney (3), Kathryn Van Houten; WC: Stoakes. 2B — SAY: Lake. RBI — SAY: Deleaney Shinn (2), Lake, Rachel Barton; WC: Stoakes, Leah Kasch.