FORT DOGE — Grand View Christian fought off a rally from Hinton to pull off a 7-4 victory on the morning of July 21 to stay alive at the Iowa high school softball state tournament.
Freshman Sophie Bird hit a go-ahead home run in the bottom of the fifth and the Thunder held on to advance in the double-elimination tournament.
“It’s unbelievable,” Bird said. “This team is so good. We all believe in the mission of we over me.”
Before Bird’s home run, Hinton had rallied from a 4-0 deficit to tie the score in the top of the inning. But Bird quickly regained the momentum for her team.
Bird belted a shot to dead center field that easily cleared the fence to put GVC back on top.
“It was just all my teammates believing in me and telling me I could do it,” Bird said. “Them having faith in me gave me so much confidence. I just felt so free to play.”
With the lead back in her team’s grasp, Thunder coach Krista DeMeulenaere called on eighth-grader Eperlie Weitzel to seal the deal in the circle.
She replaced starter Chloe Cox and showed poise for a young athlete playing in her first state tournament game.
Weitzel hit the first batter she faced, plunking Hinton’s Kaydence Smith. But she immediately made up for it by striking out Chanley Boeve. She retired the next two batters by forcing a ground out and a fly out.
GVC put two insurance runs on the board in the bottom of the sixth. Livy VanDerSluis reached base for the fourth consecutive time and later scored on a ground out by Bird, and the Thunder also got a run on a wild pitch.
That gave Weitzel all the confidence she needed to close out the victory. She forced Hinton’s Addison Dunkel to fly out to center field, picked up her second strikeout by fanning Kayla Sypersma and then worked around a two-out double by the Blackhawks’ Sydney Doeschot by striking out Kayla Kovarna for the final out.
“It was just exciting coming up for my team,” Weitzel said. “Not just doing it for me, but for everyone else.”
Weitzel allowed only one hit and struck out three with no walks as the winning pitcher.
“I was excited to go in,” Weitzel said. “It’s so fun.”
Cox gave up four runs on seven hits with three strikeouts and no walks in five innings for the Thunder, who will take a 28-4 record into the next round. VanDerSluis was 4-for-4 with one run and one hit, and Grace Kruse belted a big two-run homer in the bottom of the second inning for GVC.
Hinton ended its season at 26-5. Caitlin Badar took the loss after giving up seven runs on nine hits with four strikeouts and walks apiece in six innings.
Kovarna was 2-for-4 with two RBIs and Addison Dunkel and Doeschot each had two hits for the Blackhawks.
Joe Randleman covers high school sports for the Ames Tribune. Contact him at jrandleman@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JoeRandleman
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: GVC fends off Hinton, stays alive at Iowa softball state tournament
Reporting by Joe Randleman, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
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By Joe Randleman, Des Moines Register | USA TODAY Network
