Comets play longball while taming Cedar Falls Tigers 10-8

By John Burbridge

sports@charlescitypress.com

CEDAR FALLS — The Charles City Comets utilized the longball, repeatedly, while catching and overcoming the Cedar Falls Tigers, 10-8, in non-conference softball action on Wednesday.

Comet junior catcher Ashlyn Hoeft was 3 for 4 with a pair of home runs while driving in 5. Hoeft’s first homer — a solo shot — was the latter half of back-to-back HRs hit by the Comets in the third inning, and landed about in the same spot over the left-field fence where Rachel Chambers’s 2-run blast came down to earth on the previous pitch.

Both homers tied the game at 5 after the Tigers had taken a 5-1 lead after two.

Chambers was 3 for 4 with a double, HR and 3 RBIs; Lydia Staudt was 3 for 4 with 3 runs scored; Kiki Connell was 2 for 3 with three stolen bases; Sadie Gebel doubled and had a clutch third-out catch near the fence on a foul ball that spoiled a pending Cedar Falls rally in the fifth; and sophomore pitcher Olivia Litterer went the distance in the slugfest, yielding 5 earned runs in seven innings while picking up the win.

Myah Brinker was 2 for 3 with a double and 3 RBIs for the Tigers.

CHARLES CITY 13-12, OELWEIN 3-0: The Comets played a grand total of seven full innings while sweeping a Northeast Iowa Conference doubleheader from the Huskies on Thursday.

In the first game, Rachel Chambers was 3 for 3 with a double and a 2-run home run that not only cleared the left-field fence, but the fence surrounding Charles City’s track and football field adjacent to the softball field.

Kiki Connell, Lydia Staudt and Alex Wohlers each had two hits; and pitcher Dani Reetz scattered three hits and yielded 1 earned run for the win for the Comets.

The first game ended on Delaney Ruzicka’s 2-run double in the bottom of the fifth. Ruzicka hit in Chambers spot in the lineup after Chambers left the game due to being shaken up from a scoring collision at home plate.

Fortunately for the Comets, Chambers returned for the second game and had two RBI-doubles.

Connell was 3 for 4 with a double and a triple; Allie Cross and Staudt each had two hits; Ava Ellis doubled a scored a run; and Olivia Litterer pitched her first varsity shutout while yielding three hits in four innings for the Comets (6-2, 3-0).

CHARLES CITY 14, CRESTWOOD 4: On Tuesday, the Comets jumped out to a 7-0 lead after one, and after the Cadets pulled within 3 (7-4) through three, Charles City put them away with a 6-run rally in the fifth to stop the game.

Lydia Staudt had three hits; Kiki Connell, Allie Cross and Dani Reetz each had 2 hits; Sadie Gebel had a 2-RBI double; and Alex Wohlers had an RBI double for the Comets, who were 8 of 8 stealing bases against the Cadets.