FAIRBANK — Three coaches and an administrator looked at a rain-soaked field at Wapsie Valley around 8:15 p.m. Wednesday.
Wapsie Valley head coach Austin Jeanes and Sumner-Fredericksburg-Tripoli head coach Kevin Bergman agreed to postpone their clubs’ second game of the scheduled North Iowa Cedar League East doubleheader after a five-minute downpour directly on the softball field made the second contest unplayable.
Both coaches promised to keep the lines of communication open as to another makeup date — Wednesday was a rescheduling of a rainout June 16 — and acknowledged July 1-3 is the period to make games up, as both teams have nonconference games or nothing on the slate those three days.
The Cougars won the first contest, 6-4, and lay claim to the best of three series with a 2-0 record. SFT (17-9, 4-4) moved to .500 in NICL East play and Wapsie (20-4, 6-2) fell into a lost-games tie with Oelwein as of Thursday morning.
The NICL-East conference standings are a jumble as of Monday morning, with Wapsie (8-2). Jesup (6-4), Oelwein (5-4) and SFT (4-4) are at four losses apiece, and Union (0-9) is at the bottom.
The Cougars took control with a four-run fourth.
Sumner trailed 3-2 but saw its first two batters in the top half — Ella Pitz and Saela Steege — reach via hit-by-pitch and single, respectively.
Isabel Bernard reached when her bunt was fielded and thrown wide of first base, which brought home both Pitz and Steege for a 4-3 lead.
Jade Land walked and both moved over on a sacrifice bunt.
Jamie Jones’ hot shot down the third-base line was bobbled. The throw to first was late, and Bernard scored on the throw (5-3).
Olivia Schoonover’s single brought home Land for a 6-3 lead.
The Warriors got one back in the bottom half on Lola Destival’s first career home run (6-4) to chase starter Addison Murray, but Steege relieved and allowed just one hit the next three innings.
Maya Barnes singled to lead off the seventh and moved to third on a one-out Sumner error, but she and Destival were left stranded as Steege induced a flyout and strikeout.
“I thought Saela did a great job coming in and hitting her spots pitching. She kept us where we needed to be,†Bergman said. “I like how we battled back after we got behind. To come back and get that lead — I know they had some errors in there, but we put a lot of pressure on them, too. That was good to see.â€
Jeanes, in turn, was miffed by the miscues. Wapsie Valley committed four, and all four led to Cougar runs.
Bernard reached twice on error and scored on another; the left-handed slap-hitter scored in the top of the first on a heads-up play during Aubree Land’s first sacrifice bunt.
Bernard running home forced an overthrow that scored Jade Land and put Sumner up 2-0 in the top of the first.
“We couldn’t cover a bunt. We just couldn’t,†Jeanes said. “At the end of the day, we have to field better. That’s the biggest thing.
“It does hurt, I feel, when you’re not able to practice for a while. Those are the small things and small details that kind of get lost in the mix of it. But you can’t overthink a couple plays that you should have made that you didn’t.â€
Taylor Buhr drove in Destival for a 2-1 deficit in the third, then Sawyer Buhr gave her team a 3-2 lead with a two-run home run in the fourth.
Maddie Ladeburg followed with a double but was left on second as Murray got the next three batters out.
“You’re never comfortable with Wapsie,†Bergman said. “I’ve seen them come back too many times in that seventh inning.â€
Steege went 2 for 3 and pitched three innings for the win. She allowed one hit and struck out one. Murray struck out three and walked one.
Bernard and Jade Land each scored twice and Aubree Land was 1 for 2.
Destival was 2 for 3 with a walk and two runs scored. Ladeburg also went 2 for 3; both hit doubles. Sawyer Buhr went 1 for 3 with the homer, a run and two RBI.
“We hit pretty well. Obviously, we got a couple to go over the fence, but we left runners on base and that didn’t help anything,†Jeanes said. “It’s always a good game with Sumner. It always comes down to one or two plays.â€
