The Lady Dutch, despite holding two late leads, could not find the outs they needed in a 6-5 regional finals loss to Dallas Center-Grimes last night, as heard live on AM 1320, FM 95.3 KNIA.
The Fillies started the scoring with the first of many bloop singles, taking a 1-0 lead. Over the next four innings, DCG starter Lani Gannon set down 11 Pella batters in a row until a bases loaded opportunity fizzled out in the bottom of the 4th.
Pella’s bats came to life in the 5th, after Maddie Rempe scored on a Maddie Parks double–and after the latter stole a base, Courtney Thompson drove her in to take a 2-1 lead after five. But two costly Lady Dutch errors in the 6th led to another Fillies run. Then Pella would answer again, with Kinzi Van Wyk hitting her third home run in as many playoff games to give the Lady Dutch a 3-2 lead. DCG’s top of the order took over in the 7th, getting the first four runner on in a four-run frame to take a 6-3 advantage. Pella loaded the bases and scored twice in the bottom of the 7th, but stranded the tying run 60 feet away.
Head Coach Teresa Thompson was impressed with how the team kept battling back and forth, but says it still stings to come so close to a trip to Fort Dodge and fall short.
“The girls gave a ton of fight, and that’s what we’ve talked about all season long is never give up — and they didn’t,” she says. “We were down 6-3 and it could have been an easy 1-2-3 outs for them and we did not let that happen.”
Van Wyk finished the game 2-for-4 and gave up one run in the first four innings, Parks also had two hits and was tabbed as the losing pitcher in relief, giving up four earned runs.
Pella finishes the season 16-20 overall and in the final 16 in the state for the first time since 2015.