HUMBOLDT — In a season already filled with some memorable ups and downs for Iola High, Tuesday may have topped them all.
The Mustang softball squad celebrated Senior Night by rallying late to knock off Wellsville 4-3, and then roared from behind after trailing 8-0 in the nightcap for a dazzling 12-10 victory.
The wins give Iola (9-7) seven victories in its last eight contests.
“I’m just proud of the whole team,” Iola head coach Chris Weide said. “For this to happen on Senior Night… I don’t know if we’ve ever had a better group of kids go through here in a long time than those five seniors.”
The ceremony between Games 1 and 2 was so emotional, Weide worried the Mustangs might come out flat in the aftermath.
Indeed, Wellsville pounced on Iola in Game 2 with four runs in both the first and third innings, before the Mustangs had their first baserunner.
“I went out to the mound once and talked to the group,” Weide said. “I told them, ‘I don’t care what the score is, you’ve just got to battle.’ And every one of those girls on the field, and at the bat, battled through it.”
The Reece-Reese connection gave Iola a quick lift. Reece Murry singled in a run in the bottom of the third after Kaysin Crusinbery walked and Elza Clift and Aysha Houk both reached via infield singles to load the bases. 
Murry got Iola on the board with an RBI single before Curry roped a bases-clearing double to pare Iola’s 8-0 deficit in half.
Clift, who had struggled finding her sea legs against the potent Wellsville lineup, settled down nicely from there.
The Eagles pushed across a run in the fourth, but Clift stranded the bases loaded with a strikeout and groundout, and then retired six of the next seven batters as Iola continued its comeback.
Murry and Jenna Curry doubled to lead off the fifth for a run, Reese Curry walked, and Chloe Sell’s blast to right eluded the Eagle right fielder to make it 9-6. Maci Miller was next with a single to center to make it 9-7.
Wellsville came within an eyelash of ending the threat, by inducing back-to-back force plays at home for two quick outs, but Houk beat out her second straight infield hit, and then went to second on a wild throw to first, allowing Crusinbery and Clift to score, tying the proceedings at 9-9. Jadyn Kaufman then gave Iola the lead three pitches later when she scampered home on a passed ball.
The fun continued in the bottom of the sixth.
Sell’s perfectly placed sacrifice bunt attempt turned into a run when the catcher’s throw to first glanced off Sell’s helmet and bounced down the right field line, allowing courtesy runner Harper Desmarteau to score from first. Sell, who wound up on third on the play, scored on the next pitch on Miller’s sacrifice fly to left.
“We didn’t bunt well the other night (in a split with Neodesha),” Weide noted. “We worked on it in practice. Chloe had a great bunt. Elza had a great bunt. We pretty much just kept putting pressure on the defense, making them make plays. Those bunts were huge.”
