Marshalltown Bobcats

Ava Kusserow lit the match and Aubree Mundt fanned the flame into a full-fledged fire.

The Marshalltown softball team scored three runs in the top of the seventh inning to stun Class 2A No. 12 South Hardin, topping the Tigers 3-1 in Saturday’s finale at BCLUW’s Dave Lee Classic.

Without enough energy to ignite much of anything in the day’s opening loss to Grundy Center, the Bobcats (5-10) found just the right combination to induce a chemical reaction.

“It’s nice that we didn’t see any quit at the end,” said MHS head coach Jason Bowers. “We were down and we haven’t had that situation this year so it’s good to see them not quit and scratch a couple (runs) across and get a win.”

After blasting three home runs in Friday night’s 12-1, five-inning rout of tournament host BCLUW, the Bobcats fell flat against Grundy Center on Saturday. The lull in momentum dragged into the tournament finale against a young and talented South Hardin squad that was hungry for a win. The Tigers (8-9) fell to 3A No. 6 Sumner-Fredericksburg and Gilbert before getting the upper hand against Marshalltown early.

A leadoff triple by Alli Sheldahl in the second inning was followed by a run-scoring groundout from Lucy Anderson, putting the Tigers on top 1-0.

The score remained that way until the top of the seventh, when Marshalltown managed to put runners on and move them around.

Kusserow pinch-hit with one out and put a slug bunt back through the middle for a single. Madison Rogers was reinserted into the lineup for Kusserow and ran all the way to third when Mundt’s bunt forced a South Hardin throwing error.

“We tried to do that earlier in the game but we missed some opportunities, fouled a few bunts off, and couldn’t quite get it down,” Bowers said. “But in that seventh inning it all got manufactured there.

“Ava got on — she didn’t want to come off the bases but she’s nursing some injuries so we didn’t want to risk anything else — and Aubree sparked us by getting that bunt down and beating it out and that gave us a lot of energy.”

Suddenly in a similar scoring situation they couldn’t take advantage of against Grundy Center, the Bobcats got the contact they needed from their next batter. Leadoff hitter Gianna Baune blooped a flare into left field that glanced off the glove of Ella Owens, allowing Rogers to score the tying run.

Baune took second on the play and the Bobcats remained in an advantageous position, but they nearly ran themselves out of it. Instead, South Hardin misplayed the situation and surrendered the lead because of it.

Mundt came halfway down the third-base line on a wild pitch, but Tiger catcher Alyssa Kix was quick to recover the loose ball. Baune misread the runner in front of her and had advanced all the way to third as Mundt started to return to the base. When Kix threw to second base in an attempt to get Baune, Mundt scored without a play to put Marshalltown in front, 2-1.

One out later, Emma Stupp singled through the left side of the infield for the third time, driving in Baune for some insurance.

South Hardin, which had threatened to add to its lead throughout the game, once again put the leadoff runner on base in the bottom of the seventh. Owens reached safely on a Bobcat error, putting MHS freshman pitcher Briley Danielson in another tight spot.

Marshalltown forced out the lead runner on Madison Stille’s grounder, and then Stille was caught stealing when she neglected to slide into second base on a bang-bang play. Kix singled with two outs to keep the Tigers in the game, but Danielson coaxed a fly ball off the bat of her counterpart Charlee Rosonke to end it.

Danielson allowed seven hits and one walk, and the Bobcats made three errors, but the team wriggled out of a lot of precarious positions to pick up the win. Mundt gunned down Kix trying to tag up from third on a shallow flyout to right field to end the fifth inning on a double play.

“Briley was hitting spots,” Bowers said. “She did a really good job of hitting spots. Her movement pitches started working for her really well.”

South Hardin’s leadoff batter reached safely in five of seven at-bats, but the Tigers managed just one run.

Stupp was 3-for-4 with an RBI to account for half of Marshalltown’s six hits. Baune, Kusserow and Laney Danielson each added a single in the narrow victory.

Rosonke allowed one earned run on six hits and three walks while striking out seven in the loss. The Bobcats had only advanced one runner as far as third base before breaking through in the top of the seventh.

Bowers just hoped his squad learned from the energy it had in the win over BCLUW and the mojo it lacked in the loss to Grundy Center. The Bobcats will need to take the momentum into another busy week, starting with Monday’s home twinbill against Waterloo East.