PITTSBURG — Iola High’s Mustangs broke a three-game losing skid in Southeast Kansas League play Tuesday night. They came away with a split with host Pittsburg High’s Purple Dragons.
Iola High’s Fillies lost a couple of heartbreakers to Pittsburg in SEK softball action. They led 4-1 and lost 6-4 in the opener then dropped a 2-1 decision.
After a 5-0 start to the SEK season, the Mustangs lost three league games in a row. On the road Tuesday, the Mustangs captured a 3-2 win over the Purple Dragons.
Jerrik Sigg went the distance on the mound for the Mustangs. He gave up six hits and did not issue a walk. Sigg struck out six Dragons.
Iola held a 3-1 lead when Pittsburg produced a run in the bottom of the seventh. With the tying run on third base and two gone, Sigg coaxed a ground ball back to him out of Pittsburg’s Spencer Bernhardt. Sigg threw to first to end the game.
Iola scored a run in the third with one gone. Levi Ashmore doubled and Clint Heffern reached on an error. Sigg’s sacrifice fly to left plated the run.
Pittsburg matched it with a run in its half of the inning.
The Mustangs gained the lead for good in the fifth. Jarred Latta singled and moved up on an error then Ashmore singled. Heffern served up a sacrifice to score the run.
In the sixth, Braden Larson drew a one-out walk and advanced to second on a wild pitch. With two gone, Devon Conner drove in what would be the winning run on a base hit.
Ashmore led the Iola offense with two singles and a double. Drew Walden doubled. Hitting a single each were C. Heffern, Mason Coons, Derrick Weir and J. Latta.
Three errors — two on bunts by the Dragons — cost the Mustangs three runs in the fifth inning of the second game. Pittsburg broke a scoreless tie with those three runs and held on for a 3-1 victory.
Iola produced its run in the sixth. J. Latta was hit by a pitch and went to second on a wild pitch. With one gone, Heffern’s ground-out brought Latta in to score.
Iola only had three hits in the game. Coons delivered two singles and Sigg doubled.
C. Heffern took the loss on the mound. He worked five innings and was charged with three runs on three hits and a walk. Aaron Barclay pitched the sixth inning, giving up a hit and walking one.
The Mustangs are 6-4 in SEK play and 7-5 overall. The Purple Dragons are 5-3 and 6-4. The two teams sit behind league-leading Independence at 9-1 and 10-1.
