PELLA — On the day they climbed into the Iowa Class 4A softball rankings, Newton High’s Cardinals came up short in a Little Hawkeye Conference showdown with Class 2A 10th-ranked Pella Christian’s Eagles.
It was a 1-1 game from the second inning through the seventh inning. Newton had scored its run in the first frame and Pella Christian tied the game in the second.
The 4A 13th-ranked Cardinals pushed a go-ahead run across in the top of the eighth in the same way they had scored in the first innings.
Karley Leiker doubled with one out and scored on a two-out double by Emily Valtman each time.
Pella Christian came right back in its half of the eighth with Chloe Dembski leading off with a base hit. With one gone, Newton committed back-to-back errors which led to a walk-off RBI single by Kirsten Vander Hart for the 3-2 win for the Eagles.
“We need to hit sooner rather than later in innings,” Newton head coach Kristina McNew said. “We can’t wait that long to get our offense going each inning.”
Newton got the double doubles by Karley Leiker and Valtman. Hitting a single each were Audrey Lucas, Kennedy Leiker and Fran Lucas.
Anna Coyle went five innings, allowing one run on four hits and striking out five. Peyton Maher, who was back in the Newton lineup for the first time in a week, took over in the circle in the sixth.
Maher was charged with two runs on three hits and one hit batter, and she struck out one batter.
Newton is 4-3 in LHC play and 13-7 overall. Pella Christian went to 13-4 and 5-3 in conference action.
The Cardinals played in a tournament at West Marshall Saturday.
Contact Jocelyn Sheets at
641-792-3121 ext. 6535
or jsheets@newtondailynews.com