The Pella baseball team earned a pair of victories while the softball team lost two leads to the Cardinals on the road Monday, as the Dutch boys won both games 9-4 and the softball girls fell 8-7 and 1-0 in a conference twin bill at Newton.

In baseball, Pella overcame two runs given up in the first inning and scored the next six to take control by the 6th. Jason Knox earned the win on the mound, giving up three earned runs in 5 2/3 innings with seven strikeouts. Tate Weesner and Jack Howard each had a pair of hits in game one. The Dutch never trailed in game two, although Newton mounted a big rally in the 6th, stranding the bases loaded after pushing the game to within a 5-4 margin. Pella scored four times in the top of the 7th to get needed cushion and to clinch the sweep. Isaiah Kettler was fantastic on Monday, combining to go 7-for-9 at the plate with four runs and four RBI during the doubleheader. The Pella baseball team improves to 14-9 and 7-7 against the Little Hawkeye Conference, and travels to Winterset tonight for a non-conference varsity game.

Pella’s softball team had a 6-0 lead after the top of the 3rd inning in game one, only to give up eight runs combined in the bottom of that frame and the 4th. An Ava Curry home run in the 7th pulled the game to within one, but the Dutch stranded the tying run at 2nd base to fall. Curry finished with three extra base hits in the opener, and Thea Wisse was 3-for-4 and Kiki Riggen was 2-for-4, each with a double. Pella had six defensive errors that compounded their efforts. Game two featured the Dutch taking a one-run lead in the 3rd, but losing it in the 6th with two walks issued and a wild pitch getting a runner in position for a sac-fly RBI. The Cardinals walked it off in the 8th inning with three hits. Curry and Wisse each added two more hits, including a triple for the catcher, to get to five hits in the doubleheader. Pella’s softball team drops to 8-15 overall and 4-10 in the conference, and are off until a road trip to Oskaloosa Wednesday.