Allen County may have a budding softball rivalry brewing after the Iola Mustangs and Humboldt Lady Cubs split Friday’s doubleheader.
After Iola opened the evening with a 6-0 shutout, Humboldt seemed destined for an excruciating evening until the Lady Cubs rallied to take the finale 9-8.
“We had to battle back. Jo pitched a heck of a game,” Humboldt coach Brad Piley said. “We had some nice timely hits and some good defense to help her out. It could not have been any better. A split is what we wanted to do.”
With both teams already familiar with each other, from either playing with or against each other during summer and travel softball, Friday’s doubleheader seemed more like a game of chess than a night on the diamond.
In the opener, Iola was the benefactor when senior third baseman Harper Desmarteau credited her familiarity with Humboldt senior pitcher Shelby Shaughnessy for breaking a three-inning scoreless stalemate with an RBI bunt.
“We played really well in the first game, but in the second game we had a bunch of errors that led to their runs,” Desmarteau said. “I guess I was just making good contact. I play with a few girls over there (in Humboldt). I played with Shelby and I know how her pitching is and how she plays.”
A chopping grounder by sophomore outfielder Brooklyn Holloway forced an infield error up the middle, scoring sophomore pitcher Zoie Hesse and Desmarteau. 
In the fifth, senior catcher Reese Curry’s double to center plated two more runners, then senior outfielder Kyndal Bycroft plated Curry for the final run of the opener.
“I was just trying to not do too much thinking,” Bycroft said. “I know how to hit, I just needed to get in the box and do what I needed to do.”
Hesse picked up the win with eight strikeouts while allowing only two hits and two walks. On the opposite side Shaughnessy tallied eight strikeouts over six innings but allowed four earned runs and a pair of walks. Humboldt’s only two hits came from senior second baseman Skylar Hottenstein and Lakyn Meadows, who both hit in 1 of 3 appearances.
For the Mustangs, Curry had a team-leading two RBIs followed by Bycroft and Desmarteau with one each.
“We’re disappointed in how it ended up,” Iola coach Chris Weide said. “We’re a good ball team and they are too, but we definitely let it slip away in the second game.”
Iola learned in the finale familiarity cuts both ways.
The Lady Cubs utilized previous knowledge to their advantage. Shaughnessy, now at third base, put Humboldt on the scoreboard with an RBI single, followed by an RBI double from sophomore outfielder Kamry De La Torre. Humboldt posted two more runs on the board with an RBI double from sophomore outfielder Carlie Weilert and an RBI single from Meadows.
In the third inning, Iola rallied to a 4-4 tie on a two-run single from Hesse, followed by an RBI double by Curry to plate Hesse, and a Bycroft RBI grounder plating Curry. A Curry sacrifice fly gave Iola a 5-4 lead in the fourth.
Infield errors led to the final lead change of the evening with Humboldt benefitting 6-5, then senior catcher Chanlynn Wrestler’s RBI grounder took the lead to 7-5. Weilert’s sixth-inning RBI double gave Humboldt a 9-6 advantage, but after the Lady Cubs came up empty in their final frame it was up to the sophomore pitcher Jo Ellison and Humboldt defense to hold on for the win.
