Iola High’s softball team put forth a ferocious comeback that came up just short Friday, and then saw visiting Emporia almost do the same in the second game of their doubleheader.
Alas, Iola was able to fend off the Spartans in the nightcap, winning 5-4. That came after Iola narrowly missed out on rallying from a 7-1 deficit in Game 1 — a game interrupted by a two-hour rain delay — before bowing out with the tying run on second base in a 7-6 setback.
The loss snapped an eight-game winning streak for the Mustangs (12-8) who will host Wellsville Wednesday afternoon at 3:30 at Allen Community College. The games, originally scheduled for Tuesday, were moved to the college because of flooding at Iola’s Riverside Park.
Despite seeing the winning streak snapped, Iola has much to be encouraged about, Mustang head coach Chris Weide said.
“We’ll take a split against a 5A school,” he said.
Even better, Iola saw the return of pitching ace Elza Clift to the mound. Clift had not pitched for two weeks because of a sore forearm.
Clift started Game 1, and was virtually untouchable for the first three innings, allowing batters to make contact only twice. She didn’t allow a baserunner and struck out seven.
That’s when an approaching storm prompted umpires to suspend play, with Iola leading 1-0.
When play resumed more than two hours later, Weide took the cautious approach and moved Clift to first base, bringing in freshman Zoie Hesse to pitch the rest of the way.
Things unraveled a bit to start the fourth.
Emporia’s first and only hit of the game came on an infield single to start the inning before three straight batters walked, and two more batters were hit, pushing the Spartans ahead 2-1. Another walk and hit batter pushed across the third and fourth runs before two more scored on a Mustang fielding error. Another two-out error allowed Emporia to make it 7-1.
Meanwhile, it took Iola’s batters a bit of time to square up Emporia pitcher Alivia Anno.
Kyndal Bycroft singled and scored on Kaysin Crusinbery’s double for a quick 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second.
But that was it until the fun started in the bottom of the sixth. Harper Desmarteau led things off with a single. Hesse reached on an error before Brooklyn Holloway roped a double to left, making it 7-2.
Bycroft followed with a two-run single to pare the deficit even further.
