A seventh-inning comeback for the ages has Norwalk headed to the State Softball Tournament for the first time in eight years.
Trailing Benton Community 6-2 in Tuesday’s Class 4A regional final in Norwalk, the Warriors were down to their last three outs but plated four runs to tie the score. They had the bases loaded with two out when freshman Bailey Birmingham’s clutch RBI single lifted the fourth-ranked Warriors past the No. 14 Bobcats 7-6, clinching the program’s first state tournament trip to Fort Dodge since 2014. The game was broadcast live on kniakrls.com (KNIA3).
Birmingham, who walked and scored a run in the fifth, was pinch-hit for to start the seventh but re-entered later in the inning to supply some Warrior walk-off magic.
“I was really excited. It kind of put me in shock,” Birmingham says of her game-winning hit. “Everyone probably thought the whole game came down to me and the last hit, but my whole team helped me. It didn’t just come down to me… with Nyah (Hulbert’s home run), all the walks, everything in that inning. Everything helped.”
Norwalk (29-7) will face fifth-seeded Carlisle (27-10) in a 4A state quarterfinal Monday, July 18, at 3:30 p.m. at the Rogers Sports Complex.
Warrior freshman Nyah Hulbert, whose monstrous two-run homer cut the margin to 6-4 in the seventh, tells KNIA that it’s an amazing feeling to be state tourney bound with her teammates. Hulbert credits her approach and a controlled swing as factors in her third home run of the year.
“I was just literally looking for a base hit,” she says, “and then once it came off the bat I knew it was gone. It was like the best feeling ever running around the bases and scoring those two runs.”
Benton pitcher Jessa DeMoss took a three-hitter into the seventh but battled her control at times with nine walks. Grace Dehmer’s leadoff base-on-balls set the stage for Hulbert’s two-run blast. Kaylee Cary and Lauren Black also singled during the rally and Morgan Week’s fielder’s choice grounder to the hole at shortstop plated Cary with the tying run.
It appeared for a moment DeMoss might keep the game tied following center fielder Hope Moore’s diving catch and a pop out to short, but three pitches later Birmingham made sure that would not be the case.
Jaylynn Brandt had two singles, two walks and two runs scored for Norwalk while junior ace Zadie Wadle struck out eight batters in a gutsy complete game effort in the circle. Wadle, now 18-4, allowed eight hits but only three earned runs as the Warriors committed four errors on the night.
The game was tied 1-1 after two and stayed that way until Benton scored five runs on four hits in the top of the fifth. Ana Glawe and Jaida Lyons both had two RBI in the game for the Bobcats, who finished 25-16.