It was dj v all over again.
Less than two hours after a late lead escaped the BCLUW softball team in a ranked battle with Lisbon, the Comets found themselves clinging to another narrow advantage in their final game of the Bobcat Softball Classic.
But everything that went wrong against Lisbon worked properly against Marion.
Article Photos
T-R PHOTO BY ROSS THEDE
BCLUW’s Maddie Olson is called out but later ruled safe on a play at the plate against Lisbon during Saturday’s Bobcat Softball Classic in Marshalltown. Applying the tag is Lisbon catcher Kelsi Griffiths.
The Class 2A No. 13-ranked Comets fell 7-6 to 1A No. 5 Lisbon but held off Marion, 3-1, to finish off a 3-1 weekend showing in Marshalltown's annual tournament at the Marshalltown Community College diamonds.
Nicolette Simpson came on to get the final two outs for the save against Marion, preserving the Comets' seventh win in their last eight games. Olivia Callaway (7-2) went 6 1/3 innings for the win, allowing an unearned run on three hits. She walked none and struck out eight.
"I really thought Olivia was good today, she could have finished OK but we had Nicolette (ready) and she said she really felt confident," said BCLUW head coach David Lee. "Why not give Marion a different look? We just thought we needed to show them a different speed."
Fact Box
Bobcat Softball Classic
At Marshalltown Community College
Friday's Scores
BCLUW 12, Colfax-Mingo 0, 5 innings
Marion 8, West Marshall 2
Roland-Story 10, South Hardin 2
Marshalltown 9, South Tama 1
Bondurant-Farrar 5, East Marshall 2
Marion 6, South Hardin 1
West Marshall 4, Colfax-Mingo 3
BCLUW 1, Roland-Story 0
Bondurant-Farrar 18, South Tama 1
Marshalltown 4, East Marshall 1
Saturday's Scores
Colfax-Mingo 7, Gladbrook-Reinbeck 6, 9 inn.
South Tama 2, Oskaloosa 0
Dallas Center-Grimes 14, South Hardin 4
East Marshall 10, Lisbon 7
Dallas Center-Grimes 12, West Marshall 0
Marion 6, South Tama 5, 8 innings
Oskaloosa 7, Marshalltown 1
Roland-Story 10, Gladbrook-Reinbeck 0
Bondurant-Farrar 10, South Hardin 1
Lisbon 7, BCLUW 6
East Marshall 4, Colfax-Mingo 2
Bondurant-Farrar 11, Roland-Story 2
Marshalltown 6, West Marshall 0
BCLUW 3, Marion 1
The same strategy neglected to get the same result for BCLUW (21-9) against Lisbon. The Lions rallied for four runs in the top of the seventh inning to steal a 7-6 victory from the Comets.
Lisbon pushed one run across and had the bases loaded when Callaway came on for Simpson (14-7). A wild pitch, a single and a groundout allowed the Lions to chase all three runners home to go ahead, and winning pitcher Katie Montgomery retired the Comets in order in the bottom of the seventh.
Only one of the seven Lisbon runs came earned to Simpson, who allowed seven hits, struck out five and walked two. The Comets made five errors behind her after jumping out to a 4-0 lead.
"That was a game that we had that we let get away, and we let it get away a number of ways," said Lee. "Nic(olette) wasn't real sharp all day long but I think she was adequate, but my gosh we dropped three fly balls.
"We have to learn how to play ahead as well as coming from behind. I think today was a good experience for us, both games."
Sarah McCoy, Danielle Montgomery and Makayla VanCleave each had two of the Comets' 10 hits in the loss to Lisbon. Abby Miller and Maddie Olson both drove in two runs while Kendall Scurr and Montgomery plated one apiece.
After enduring that nailbiter marathon match with Lisbon, the Comets were due up on a neighboring diamond against a Marion team that hadn't lost in three games over the weekend.
But leave it to BCLUW to play the spoiler, even after an emotional loss just moments before ended the team's six-game winning streak.
The Comets' aggressive baserunning and a cleaner game of defense helped Callaway and Simpson combine on a three-hitter that was nearly a shutout.
"The best thing probably after a heart-wrenching loss over there, a game we really felt we had a hold of, was to come over here and play a pretty good team and have them shut out until the last inning," said Lee. "We made some plays that kept it that way during the ballgame, too. We created a run or two, and we have to be able to do that."
The Comets scored single runs in the second, fourth and fifth innings, making the most out of the six singles Marion starter Mikayla Goemaat allowed.
Olson walked to start the second, and her pinch-runner Kayla Fisher later scored on a misplayed grounder off the bat of Mallory Vawter. Olson singled to lead off the fourth and came plateward on a two-out bloop single by Vawter.
McCoy singled leading off the fifth and her courtesy runner Haley Veldhouse scored after back-to-back singles by Scurr and Miller.
The lead proved to be just enough in this instance after Marion (20-13) made its move in the top of the seventh. Michalyn Mohr hammered a one-out double to deep left, and consecutive Comet errors pushed Mohr across.
Simpson took to the circle and locked up her second save of the season, getting consecutive groundouts to Miller at second base to end the game.
The Comets open a busy week on the diamond with Monday's NICL West Division clash with 3A No. 5 East Marshall. The Mustangs have a one-game lead on BCLUW in the league standings in a two-team race for the conference crown.