Against a West Sioux softball team that refused to quit, Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn had the answer: keep scoring runs. The Hawks tallied four runs in the third inning, two in the fifth and four more in the sixth to earn a 10-7 War Eagle Conference victory June 18 at Hartley.
No sooner had HMS taken a 4-0 lead than the Falcons responded with three runs in the fourth and another in the fifth to knot the score at 4-4. Back came the Hawks with their two runs in the bottom of the fifth to go retake the lead at 6-4. West Sioux made it 6-5 in the sixth prompting the HMS response of four runs in the sixth. Still not finished, the Falcons tallied twice in the seventh and had the tying run at the plate before a pop up to second ended the game.
Gracie Knobloch enjoyed a 3-for-3 night at the plate including a double and an RBI single in the third. She drew a walk and scored three runs. Elly Klein went 3-for-4, lacing a two-run double in the third. She also scored three times and recorded a pair of RBI’s. Going 2-for-4 was Elle Mastbergen who drove in three runs. Darby Mastbergen was another 2-for-4 hitter. She singled home a run in the sixth and later scored. Leadoff batter Jessica Riedeman had two hits and scored a pair of runs. Taya Mason had a hit and scored. If you’re counting, that’s 13 hits for the Hawks. Abby Kunzman reached base three times thanks to West Sioux errors and scored a run.
Benefitting from the run support was winning pitcher Knobloch. In tossing the complete game she allowed 10 hits and six earned runs. The eighth grader struck out six batters and walked four.
W. Sioux 0 0 0 3 1 1 2 – 7
HMS 0 0 4 0 2 4 x – 10