Cardinals’ rally falls short in seventh inning

Emily Valtman broke up a no-hit pitching bid by Ames’ Macee Buss with the only hit Newton High’s Cardinals had in Friday night’s home contest. It was a big hit.

Valtman connected to take a Buss pitch over the fence for a two-run home run, bringing the Cardinals to within one run of the Little Cylcones in the bottom of the seventh inning.

With two outs, Newton trailed 4-3 and Audrey Lucas reached on the third error of the inning by Ames. Buss came back to strikeout Kennedy Leiker to end the comeback and the game. The Cardinals lost for the first time this season.

Buss had handled the Cardinal hitters the whole night.

In the seventh with one gone, the Little Cyclones made back-to-back errors putting Karley Leiker and Peyton Maher on base. Taylor Ryan’s sacrifice fly to center drove in Karley Leiker.

Valtman’s blast kept the Newton rally going and a spark of a comeback-win was burning for the Cardinals.

“We didn’t hit well against Ames,” Newton head coach Kristina McNew said. “We need to adjust better at the plate.”

Maher took the pitching loss for Newton. She allowed five hits, did not walk a better and notched six strikeouts.

Ames scored three runs in the first inning. The Little Cyclones added an insurance run in the fifth inning.

Newton (2-1) opens Little Hawkeye Conference this week with a road game Tuesday at Norwalk then a home game Wednesday against Pella Christian. The varsity games are at 7:30 p.m. both nights.

Contact Jocelyn Sheets at
641-792-3121 ext. 6535 or jsheets@newtondailynews.com