In a wild War Eagle Conference contest West Sioux scored four runs in the eighth inning to defeat Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn 19-15 June 20 at Hartley. The loss dropped the Hawks to 1-6 in conference play and 3-10 overall.
“The girls fought the whole game,” observed HMS head coach Stephanie Bronstad. “We batted well and played good defense. West Sioux strung some hits when they needed. Gracie (Knobloch) got frustrated on the mound but battled hard through the game. The girls are showing up and playing hard.”
The Falcons opened the contest with a five-spot but the Hawks responded with four runs in the bottom of the first. HMS then tallied five times in the second to lead 9-5. West Sioux got two back in the third but the Hawks added four runs in the fifth for a 13-7 advantage. In the sixth the Falcons scored two runs and the Hawks one. Trailing 14-9 West Sioux erupted for six runs in the seventh to go up by one. A run by the Hawks sent the game into the extra inning. HMS got the first two batters on base in the bottom of the eighth but the Falcons retired the next three.
Mahkenzie Mattingly went 3-for-5 at the plate with three RBI’s and two runs scored. Kamryn Ebel and Frankie Mohni each had two hits and scored three runs. Mohni also drove in a run. Knobloch was on base four times. Her courtesy runner, Jenna Hengeveld, scored three runs. Cammy Wilson had two hits, knocked in two runs and scored a run. The Hawks left seven runners on base while West Sioux stranded five.
In the circle Knobloch gave up the 19 runs (13 earned) on 13 hits. She struck out 14 batters walked nine and hit one. There were four HMS errors.
W. Sioux 5 0 2 0 0 2 6 4 – 19
HMS 4 5 0 0 4 1 1 0 – 15