Alivia Burns Photo by Patrick Coons

The Webster City softball team scored a thrilling 8-7 victory over Hampton-Dumont/CAL here Wednesday night.

With the bases loaded and two outs, Alivia Burns singled, driving in Tessi Farley for the walk-off win.

Earlier in the inning, Briley VanDeer plated Morgan Tempel to cut the deficit to one before Jaylyn Bahrenfuss tied it by bringing in Morgan Hackbarth.

Tempel and Hackbarth finished with three hits each, as Hackbarth and Burns both drove in two runs. Jakaela Cherry and Amanda Lahr each had two hits.

Cherry added an RBI for the Lynx (4-6 overall, 2-3 in North Central Conference).

Inside the circle, VanDeer went five, striking out six while allowing just two hits and one earned run. Cherry finished it off, pitching two hits with three strikeouts and zero earned runs allowed.

“It took us a while to get going offensively, but held serve on the defensive side of the ball until our bats started to roll,” WCHS head coach Brad VanDeer said. “Briley pitched extremely well again and the defense made some nice plays behind her.

“Offensively, we hit the ball hard early in spots, but couldn’t string anything together until the fifth inning when I think we had seven hits.”

Hampton-Dumont/CAL scored a run in the first before the Lynx tallied five in the fifth. The Bulldogs responded with four in the sixth and two in the seventh before Webster City plated three to win it.

“Amanda Lahr continues to hit the ball and really was a nice spark on that side,” VanDeer said. “It was really nice to see our girls respond after giving up the lead late in the game.

“It shows our leaders are doing a nice job keeping the team focused and our younger kids are responding the right way.”

The Lynx welcome top-ranked (Class 4A) Carlisle Friday night before hosting the Dave Hilton Invitational on Saturday.