CONRAD - Kayla Holbach did her part, driving in five of Gladbrook-Reinbeck's six runs, but the Rebels came up just short in their bid to upset Class 2A No. 4-ranked Sumner-Fredericksburg.
Holbach went 4-for-4 with a pair of two-run homers but the Cougars rallied past the Rebels for a 7-6, eight-inning victory on Friday in the Comet Invitational Softball Classic.
Gladbrook-Reinbeck (5-5) took a 4-0 lead after two and a half innings, helped along by Holbach's run-scoring single and her first two-run blast. But the Cougars (10-2) had enough fight in them and tied the game up after Makaya Henniges' two-run shot of her own in the fifth.
Article Photos
T-R PHOTO BY ROSS THEDE
Gladbrook-Reinbeck senior Kayla Holbach (19) is greeted at home plate by her teammates after hitting her first of two two-run homers during the Rebels’ loss to Sumner-Fredericksburg.
The game reached its time limit after six innings, prompting the international tiebreaker in the seventh. With Taylor Flamme already on second base, Holbach hammered her second two-run homer on the first pitch Kelsey Nilges offered her.
Gladbrook-Reinbeck could do no more, however, and S-F tied it up with back-to-back singles against Rebel relief pitcher Jordan LaBarge in the bottom half.
Starter Taylor Street came back in and retired the next three batters, but G-R had its scoring chance cut down by a double play in the eighth. Sumner-Fredericksburg used a wild pitch and a Rebel error to plate the game-winner in its next at-bat.
"I thought Taylor pitched a good game," shrugged G-R head coach Brian Thompson. "We can play with anybody if we play like we can. Kayla did a great job.
"We're just trying to get better at the end of the year. I don't mind losing to a team like that in a game like that. That's good experience for us."
G-R leadoff hitter Emily Snider went 3-for-5 with a run scored, while Street was 2-for-3. Flamme doubled and scored three times, while Hayley Weber and Lauren Gauthier added singles for the Rebels.
Street (2-3) struck out six, walked one and hit two batters in her seven innings of work.
Nilges (6-2), the Cougars' back-up pitcher, struck out three and walked none. Tiffany Hoth, McKenzie Schmitt and Jasmine Meyer had two hits apiece for S-F, which lost its top pitcher Kally Frisch to an apparent hamstring injury.
G-R faces Waterloo Columbus and GMG in today's Comet Invite action.