High School Softball: Humboldt 11, Yates Center 5; Humboldt 9, Yates Center 8
High-pressure situations were not something that the Lady Cubs softball team had encountered up until Monday.
Their previous four games were all won in style and by at least 12 runs.
It was very much the same in the Lady Cubs 11-5 series-opening win where, even though Humboldt got taken to seven innings for the first time all season, they still werent exactly challenged.
That changed in the second game when the Cubs, led by both clutch hitting and pitching, walked-off with a win in the bottom of the seventh for a 9-8 win.
Last year we won the first game and they came back and won the second, head coach Brad Piley said. So I told them that this year we need to win both because Bluestem is probably our main competition in the league. So I was proud of the way we battled, they took the lead on us late but we came back and got the win.
The wins move Humboldt to 6-0 this season.
In the first game, the Lady Cubs grabbed an early 3-0 lead after the first inning but three innings later, Bluestem cut the lead to 3-2 after the top of the fourth.
Humboldt rattled off eight runs in the bottom of the inning to push its lead to 11-2. From there, the Lady Cubs were on the lookout for the final run they needed to trigger the run-rule but it evaded them as the Lady Lions scored three runs in the final two innings to get within six but no closer.
Aricah McCall, Winter Snyder and Emma Johnson each grabbed two hits with Snyder and McCall driving home two runs each with those hits.
The rain picked up slightly as the night went on and the cold was a constant since the first pitch. That made things particularly difficult for starter Rylan Wilhite who had her worst outing of the season with five runs given up on 10 hits and a walk in seven innings. She struck out eight batters.
Wilhite pushed into the second game and continued to have similar struggles, giving up eight runs on nine hits and a walk as well as a four-run, fifth inning. She had an opportunity to shut the game down in the top of the seventh with the Lady Cubs leading by a run but let a run slip by her to tie it up and send it to the bottom of the inning.
Despite the weather and the struggles, Wilhite always kept the game in the grasp of her offense. She never let it get out of hand.
Shes had to play all of her games in either wet conditions, cold conditions or both, Piley said. I pitched her both games because she was already warm and in games like these, its hard to get another pitcher acclimated to this kind of weather. But she pitched very well, I was very proud of her.
After that four-run fifth inning, the Lions led by a run. Winter Snyder went up to bat and hit the second of two home runs in the game to tie it back up heading into the sixth inning.
The Lady Cubs took an 8-7 lead in the bottom of the sixth and when Bluestem tied it back up at 8, it was Maggie Johnson who took advantage of the two hits that came before her to find a gap in right field and end the game.
Theres not too many times you can say that you have confidence in all nine of your batters but with this group I do, Piley said. We dont have a weak spot. Theres going to be times where someone isnt seeing the ball as well and thats when having those other girls who can hit will be very valuable.
They could have very easily folded up in that second game but they fought back. You could tell they wanted it.
