Comets’ offense wakes up during Joe Campbell Softball Invite

By John Burbridge sports@charlescitypress.com

MASON CITY — Strikeouts are not overrated.

Especially if you’re a pitcher who has herself surrounded by the tying and go-ahead runs.

Charles City sophomore Sami Heyer was in that predicament during the seventh inning of the Comets’ first game of the Joe Campbell Softball Invitational, Saturday against Forest City.

Down 6-3, the Indians managed to rally for 2 runs against Comet freshman starter Alex Litterer, who was vying for her first 7-inning complete varsity victory before being relieved by Heyer.

With the tying run on third base and the go-ahead run on second with one out, Forest City looked primed to force the Comets to bat in their half of the inning as any decent contact against a drawn-in infield — or wild pitch or passed ball — would likely stave off defeat.

But Heyer managed to strike out the next two Indian hitters in order as Charles City hung on to a 6-5 win.

The half inning before, Heyer hit her first home run of the season — a 2-run shot to center — as part of a 5-run rally that put the Comets up after trailing 3-1 through five.

Tayler Schmidt’s solo homer in the bottom of the first tied the game at 1, but the Comets’ offense was stymied against Indian starter Natalie Moore, who put up zeros for the next four innings.

Then the Comets’ woke up in the sixth, and unfortunately for their next opponent — Rockford — they stayed awake.

After Sara Martin’s 2-run homer in the first opened the scoring against the Warriors, the Comets scored 13 runs in the second inning on way to a 15-0 victory that didn’t last a full three innings

The big blow during the second when the Comets sent 17 batters to the plate was Ciana Sonberg’s 2-run homer. Like Martin’s homer before, it was a “still shot” meaning that Rockford’s outfielders barely moved after contact already knowing the ball was long gone.

Most of the damage the Comets did against the Warriors was of their own doing as Rockford only committed one error and its pitchers only issued one walk.

During the onslaught, Bailey Mitchell was 3 for 3 with a double; and Martin, Schmidt, Sonberg, Kelby Katcher, Shantel VanHauen and Lisabeth Fiser all had two hits — in several cases in the same inning.

The night before, the Comets traveled to Algona for a non-conference game and won, 9-2.

Heyer threw a complete game while striking out 14 on way to winning her 14th game of the season

Martin was 3 for 4 with a homer and two doubles against the Bulldogs.

Through 23 games — the Comets are 20-3 overall — Martin leads the team with a .493 batting average (Mitchell is second at .492), doubles (12), home runs (8), RBIs (36), and slugging percentage (1.000).

Note: slugging percentage is total bases accumulated divided by number of at bats.

Madeline Peters also had three hits, and Comet leadoff hitter Payton Reams had two hits and 2 runs scored against Algona.

CHARLES CITY 9, ALGONA VARSITY 2

CC AB  R  H BI  ALGONA AB  R  H BI

Payton Reams    5  2  2  0  Teylor Rindone        4  1  1  0

Kelby Katcher      5  0  1  1  Emma Hjelle           1  1  0  0

Kiki Connell         0  1  0  0  Janna Julius          4  0  2  0

Tayler Schmidt      4  2  1  0  Nicole Smidt          3  0  0  1

Sara Martin           4  3  3  4  A Buscher             4  0  0  0

Shantel Vanhauen  4  1  0  0  Kam Etherington 2  0  1  0

Bailey Mitchell       3  0  1  1  Samantha Hood    3  0  0  0

Ciana Sonberg     4  0  1  0  Grace Meints         3  0  0  0

Madeline Peters  4  0  3  0  Hailey Schmidt        3  0  0  0

Lisabeth Fiser        4  0  1  1                                    

TOTALS           37  9 13  7  TOTALS               27  2  4  1

CHARLES CITY         205 200 00 — 9

ALGONA                200 000 0x — 2

LOB–CHARLES CITY 9, ALGONA  9. ERR–Bailey

Mitchell (2), Kam Etherington (3), Alyssa Hentges. 2B–SaraMartin (2), Tayler Schmidt. HR–Sara Martin. HBP–Nicole Smidt, Emma Hjelle (2). SB–Payton Reams (2), Bailey Mitchell, Tayler Schmidt, Shantel Vanhauen, Janna Julius.

CHARLES CITY            IP    H    R   ER   BB   SO   HR

Sami Heyer (W)                 7.00    4    2    2    2   14    0

ALGONA              

Kam Etherington (L)            7.00   13    9    6    2    5    1

PB–Kelby Katcher (2). SO–Madeline Peters, Payton Reams, Bailey Mitchell, Kelby Katcher (2), A Buscher (3), Samantha Hood (2), Nicole Smidt (3), Hailey Schmidt, Grace Meints (2), Janna Julius, Teylor Rindone (2). BB–Bailey Mitchell, Tayler Schmidt, Kam Etherington, Emma Hjelle.

CHARLES CITY 6, FOREST CITY 5

FOREST CITY  AB  R  H BI  CC AB  R  H BI

Morgan Hobbs   4  2  2  0  Payton Reams         4  0  0  0

Kelsey Koch       2  2  0  0  Ciana Sonberg         3  1  2  0

Anna Andersen   3  0  0  0  Tayler Schmidt        4  2  2  1

C Holland             4  0  1  1  Sara Martin           3  0  0  0

Emily Banken       4  0  2  0  Bailey Mitchell       2  0  0  0

Halle Johnson    3  0  0  0  Shantel Vanhauen   2  0  0  0

E Caylor              3  0  1  0   Sami Heyer           1  1  1  2

Madeline Slater  1  0  0  0  Kelby Katcher         1  1  0  0

N Moore               3  0  0  0  Cora Crooks           3  0  2  0

K Larson              3  1  1  0  Lisabeth Fiser        2  0  0  0

                                  *Madeline Peters      0  1  0  0

TOTALS            30  5  7  1  TOTALS               25  6  7  3

FOREST CITY  100 020 2 — 5

CHARLES CITY 100 005 x — 6

LOB–FOREST CITY 9, CHARLES CITY 6. ERR–E

Caylor (2), Emily Banken, Bailey Mitchell, Ciana Sonberg(2). 3B–Morgan Hobbs. HR–Sami Heyer, Tayler Schmidt.HBP–Anna Andersen. SB–Kelsey Koch, Morgan Hobbs, Emily Banken, Cora Crooks.

FOREST CITY              IP    H    R   ER   BB   SO   HR

N Moore (L)                    6.00    7    6    6    5    0    2

CHARLES CITY      

Alex Litterer (W)              6.00    6    5    3    3    5    0

Sami Heyer                     1.00    1    0    0    1    3    0

PB–C Holland (2), Kelby Katcher (3). SO–N Moore, AnnaAndersen, Halle Johnson, Kelsey Koch (2), Madeline Slater, ECaylor, C Holland. BB–N Moore, Halle Johnson, Kelsey Koch (2), Lisabeth Fiser, Bailey Mitchell, Kelby Katcher (2), Ciana Sonberg.

CHARLES CITY 15, ROCKFORD 0 (3 inn)

ROCKFORD  AB  R  H BI  CC AB  R  H BI

Sarah Parcher    2  0  0  0  Payton Reams        3  1  1  2

Emma Ramon     1  0  0  0  Ciana Sonberg        3  2  2  3

Marissa Norby     1  0  0  0  Tayler Schmidt        3  3  3  2

Skylar Schmitt       1  0  0  0  Sara Martin           3  3  2  3

Jamie Schuster     1  0  0  0  Bailey Mitchell       3  2  3  2

Jenna Paulus       1  0  0  0  Shantel Vanhauen 3  1  2  1

Theresa Jones     1  0  0  0  Kelby Katcher        2  1  2  1

Sydney Fullerton 1  0  0  0  Madeline Peters      3  0  0  0

Amber Staudt          0  0  0  0  Lisabeth Fiser     2  2  2  1

TOTALS                9  0  0  0  TOTALS               25 15 17 15

ROCKFORD  000 — 0

CHARLES CITY 213x — 15

LOB–ROCKFORD VARSITY 1, CHARLES CITY VARSITY 5. ERR–Sydney Fullerton. 2B–Payton Reams, Bailey Mitchell, Sara Martin, Tayler Schmidt. HR–Sara Martin, Ciana Sonberg. SB–Lisabeth Fiser (2), Bailey Mitchell, Tayler Schmidt (2), Shantel Vanhauen.

ROCKFORD                 IP    H    R   ER   BB   SO   HR

Emma Ramon (L)               1.67   12   12    5    1    3    2

Ella Carroll                   0.33    5    3    3    0    0    0

CHARLES CITY       

Tayler Schmidt (W)             3.00    0    0    0    1    1    0

PB–Jenna Paulus. SO–Theresa Jones, Payton Reams (2), Sara Martin. BB–Amber Staudt, Kelby Katcher.