Daily-Freeman Journal photos by Troy Banning: Webster City’s CJ Hisler slides against Algona in Webster City on Friday night.

When the Webster City baseball team is clicking, head coach Adison Kehoe knows his Lynx are tough to beat.

Nights like Friday tend to reveal the true character of a ballclub, though. Webster City didn’t have its A game at the plate, but the Lynx still found a way to rally past Algona and stay in control of their North Central Conference championship destiny.

Sophomore Josh Griep drove in junior Connor Hansen in the bottom of the seventh inning, as WCHS picked up a dramatic 2-1 victory in walk-off fashion. As a result, Kehoe’s squad remained perched atop the NCC standings with a 10-1 league record — a lead that was extended to a game and a half over Humboldt, which lost to Hampton-Dumont/CAL on the same evening.

“It’s just about finding a way, which has been kind of a common theme for us in conference games,” Kehoe said. “It’s easy to feel good about yourself when you’re playing well and everyone’s hitting. Sometimes, you have to be resilient and fight your way through. And we were able to do that.”

Senior Devon Stoakes was in control on the mound, firing a complete-game four-hitter for Webster City (16-7 overall). Stoakes surrendered only an RBI single to Bulldog freshman Aidan Ulrich in the first inning, firing six subsequent shutout frames in response and improving his personal mark to 6-2 on the year.

“Devon is a senior doing senior things,” Kehoe said. “He just continues to impress. With our bats pretty much silent most of the night (and the wind blowing in), it was up to Devon and the defense. They brought us home.”

The Lynx responded to their first NCC setback in 33 games — at Clear Lake — with consecutive victories over Hampton-Dumont/CAL and Algona (9-15, 5-6). Webster City now faces Clarion-Goldfield/Dows on the road Monday, St. Edmond in Fort Dodge on Wednesday and Iowa Falls-Alden on Friday with a chance to add one for the thumb and a fifth consecutive league title.

“It’s been one of our goals since the winter (staying atop the conference),” Kehoe said. “You just take it game by game and realize we still have a lot of business to take care of this week.

“We just have to keep focusing on ourselves and controlling what we can in our own dugout. The rest will take care of itself.”

WEBSTER CITY 2, ALGONA 1

Algona 100 000 0 — 1 4 0

Webster City 001 000 1 — 2 4 0

WP–Devon Stoakes (7 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER); LP–Miles Goche (6.1 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 2 K).