March 19, 2024

Slow start plagues CMB softball in state opener

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FORT DODGE — The 14th-ranked Collins-Maxwell/Baxter softball team proved it belonged on the big stage Wednesday at the Iowa High School State Softball Championships.

The Raiders played competitively with the defending state champions at Harlan and Hazel Rogers Sports Complex. Unfortunately, a slow start and a few uncharacteristic miscues in the field were too much to overcome.

“You had a team that has been here before, and a team that hasn’t, and we came out and made some uncharacteristic mistakes and just didn’t play like we have been all year,” CMB coach Troy Houge said following the Raiders’ 8-5 loss to third-ranked Solon. “We just didn’t do enough. We have to do more if we want to win down here. We didn’t come up with hits when we needed them. We struck out too much today.”

The loss sends the Raiders into the Class 3A consolation bracket. They face No. 15 Atlantic at noon Thursday. The winner plays for fifth and the loser battles for seventh later in the day. Both of those games will be at 4 p.m.

The Spartans, who are playing in their sixth consecutive state tournament, face No. 2 Davenport Assumption in a 3A semifinal at 11:30 a.m. Thursday.

Solon (33-9) struck first with three runs in the first inning and then countered CMB’s first attempt at a comeback when it plated three more runs in the second.

CMB junior Abbey Kahler got the start in the circle, but she lasted just two innings after the Spartans jumped out to a 6-2 lead.

Three of the first four Spartans reached base. That included Jess Heick, who reached on an error and then scored on a second CMB miscue.

The Raiders rallied in the bottom of the first inning. Junior Megan Ritter singled and then sophomore Katie Camp and Kahler drew consecutive walks to load the bases. Senior Payge Jurgens trimmed the Raider deficit to 3-1 with an RBI single.

However, CMB’s momentum was halted when courtesy runner Abby Husak was called out for leaving the base too early.

Husak left the base early on a play where junior Mikayla Eslinger smoked the ball to the fence. Two runs would have scored and the Raiders would have had no outs. Instead, the umpire’s call eliminated Eslinger’s hit and gave CMB one out.

Eslinger hit an RBI single eventually, and that closed the gap to 3-2, but two consecutive fly outs ended the Raiders’ threat.

“I don’t know if it was a good call because I couldn’t see it,” Houge said. “However, I saw their girl leave early in the first inning, and it wasn’t called. It was the lead-off hitter so if she’s out, maybe they don’t score three runs. It cost us a run but also gave them a run. I am not putting any blame there, but that was a big play in the game.”

A two-run home run by Bryn Hanrahan in the second inning helped push Solon’s lead to 6-2. It also chased Kahler from the circle. She was replaced by eighth-grader Mikayla Houge, who allowed two runs the rest of the way.

“I felt bad for pulling Abbey in the second inning, but it just wasn’t working,” Coach Houge said. “Her ball was staying up about waist high, and that’s where we can’t have it.

“Mikayla kept us in the game. She made one mistake, and they manufactured another run.”

The Raiders rallied to within a run in the third inning. Jurgens singled with one out, and then Eslinger followed with an infield single. With two outs, Mikayla Houge drew the Raiders within 6-4 following a two-run single. A third run crossed homeplate later in the inning when Solon committed an error on a fly ball by eighth-grader Holly Jessen.

Unfortunately, CMB (25-9) couldn’t maintain the momentum.

Heick homered off Houge in the fifth inning and then the Spartans added an insurance run in the top of the seventh.

CMB had runners on second and third with Kahler and Jurgens coming up to the plate in the sixth, but Kahler flew out to right field to end the threat.

Jurgens led off the seventh with a double, but Solon’s McKenna Miller (21-4) retired three straight to end the game.

“We got it back to 6-5, and then started chasing bad pitches and quit hitting the stuff we normally hit,” Coach Houge said. “That’s too bad because we had a shot to still win the game.

“Once we got it back to 6-5, we started to press. That’s uncharacteristic of our team.”

Kahler (13-5) allowed six runs — five earned — on six hits. Houge surrendered two earned runs on five hits while striking out three, walking one and hitting another.

“I think we came out a little nervous and weren’t ready to make the plays we are supposed to make,” Mikayla Houge said. “We did a good job of coming back, but our bats just didn’t do enough.”

The best the Raiders can do in their first-ever state tournament is fifth. They’ll have to defeat Atlantic at noon Thursday to have a chance to accomplish that. A loss to Atlantic would guarantee the Raiders either seventh or eighth.

“We just have to see if we can come back and get our first win at state,” Coach Houge said. “We have the chance to end our season on a high note. I would like to build into next year, too.”

Contact Troy Hyde at
641-792-3121 ext. 6536 or thyde@newtondailynews.com