Having routed Grinnell by scores of 12-0 and 12-3 in the regular season, one couldn’t blame Newton softball fans for expecting more of the same when the teams met on Thursday night in a Class 4A Regional first round game at Berg Middle School Field.

For 41⁄2 innings, it seemed the Cardinal players were buying into it a little too much. A sluggish offense and lackadaisical defensive plays allowed the downtrodden Tigers to be right in the game, down just 4-2 after a two-run inside-the-park home run.

But that’s when Newton woke up. It pounded out seven hits and took advantage of three Grinnell errors to score eight runs in the bottom of the fifth, winning by a score of 12-2 via the 10-run rule on another of a long stretch of hot and humid nights.