The Pella Christian summer sports teams were unable to end their recent losing streaks in road non-conference action Wednesday night, as the softball team fell 3-1 at Clarke and the baseball team lost 15-5 in five innings at Grinnell.
In Osceola, the Eagles softball squad fell into an early 1-0 hole to the Indians, as Clarke capitalized on the game’s only error to score two batters into the bottom of the first. That run was the only tally on the scoreboard until the sixth inning, when Pella Christian evened things up. Leading off the top of the sixth, Rachel Kacmarynski bunted for a single, stole second, and advanced to third on older sister Faith’s ground out. Claire Braafhart then lifted a fly ball into left field for a sacrifice fly to score Rachel and tie the game at 1-1. The tie was short lived however, as Clarke pushed two runs across the plate in the bottom of the frame and followed that up with a clean seventh inning to drop the Eagles to 1-12 overall. Maddy Van Zee suffered the loss in the circle, giving up three runs on seven hits and three walks.
The Pella Christian baseball team struggled to keep the Tigers off the scoreboard in Grinnell, allowing at least one run in all five innings. The Tigers opened the game with eight runs in the first three innings, while allowing just a single Eagles baserunner to jump out to the early advantage. Pella Christian managed to get on the scoreboard with two runs in the fourth inning and three in the fifth, but Grinnell tallied four more runs in those innings to end the game via the run-rule and drop the Eagles record to 8-12 overall. Caleb Van Arendonk and Grant Kelderman drove in all five Pella Christian runs, with Kelderman blasting a two-run homer in the fourth inning and Van Arendonk belting a three-run homer in the fifth inning. Kelderman took the loss on the mound, allowing six earned runs on six hits and two walks in two innings of work.
The Pella Christian summer sports teams are back in action tonight, hosting non-conference games against Knoxville. Coverage of the Eagles softball game against the Panthers can be heard live on 92.1 KRLS at 7 pm, while the baseball game between Pella Christian and Knoxville can be heard live on 95.3 KNIA at 7:15 pm.