High School Softball: Lady Cats 16, Fillies 1; Lady Cats 6, Fillies 2
At the end of the 1976 Sylvester Stallone boxing classic Rocky, Rocky Balboa finds himself in the fight of his life versus the reigning world heavyweight champion Apollo Creed.
Bloody, beaten and near-defeat, Balboa finds a way to drag himself through the full 15-round match avoiding what everyone thought would be a sure knockout at the hands of the powerful veteran Creed.
The victory for Balboa who ended up losing that match by decision but in the perseverance and toughness to take the punches and come out of the match both in one piece and with his dignity.
So, too, did the Iola girls walk away with their heads held high after suffering a sweep at the hands of the Apollo Creed-like Burlington team who came into Fridays softball game having only lost one game.
The Fillies felt the full brunt of the Lady Cats in the first game, falling 16-1 in a five-inning run-rule before falling in a tight 6-2 loss in game two where Iola trailed by as little as three runs.
With the losses, the Fillies move to 6-12 on the season.
Iola didnt give up more than four runs in an inning in game one but Burlingtons offensive attack was consistent and they led 12-0 after four innings.
The Fillies drove in their lone run in the bottom of the fourth but four Lady Cat runs in the top of the fifth finished the Fillies off.
Freshman starter Kailey Schinstock allowed 16 runs (11 earned) on 15 hits and seven walks.
Sophomore Kelsey Morrison had two of the four hits for the Fillies with senior Chloe Gardner and junior Nissa Fountain chipping in the other two.
Things seemed destined for a similarly rough end in game two as Burlington opened the game with a four-run first inning. They added another run in the top of the third to take their lead to 5-0.
Thats when the scoring stopped. Just like Rocky, the Fillies swayed and stumbled but did not fall.
Freshman starter Jenna Miller threw three straight scoreless innings from the fourth to the sixth to keep her team alive.
She ended up allowing six runs with only two of those being earned on nine hits.
I was really impressed with our pitching again, Weide said. Both of our girls, but especially Jenna, threw a bunch of strikes and they did a great job holding us in the game. She only allowed two runs against what I think is the best hitting team in the state in 4A-II.
The Fillies got the closest they had been all night in the bottom of the ninth with two runs to cut the lead to 5-2. Burlington added another run in the top of the inning and the Fillies had no final response as Burlington got the win and the sweep.
