Spirit Lake Iowa — After an early inning 1-1 tie the scoring came in bunches and when the dust settled it was a six run 7th inning that propelled BHRV past Spirit Lake 16-10 and on to the State Softball Tournament. The Nighthawks open State on Tuesday July 28th at 12:30. The Nighthawks are the #7 seed and will open against #2 seed Davenport Assumption. Assumption enters the State Tournament at 19-5 on the year.
BHRV scored in the top of the first inning to take an early 1-0 lead. Lizzy Blum led off with a double and was bunted over to third by Charli Bomgaars. Brooke Zylstra drove her in with a bunt single as the Nighthawks ran the safety squeeze to perfection.
Spirit Lake answered with a run in the bottom of the second as Taylor Schneider pulled a home run down the right field line and off the top of the foul pole to tie the game at 1-1. The two teams then began to trade runs up to the 7th inning.
A three run third put the Nighthawks up 4-1. Charli Bomgaars singled and Brooke Zylstra followed with a double. Both scored on an error committed on a bunt laid down by Jewel Bergstrom. Bergstrom came across on a fielders choice off the bat of Jenny Leuvano.
Spirit Lake answered with a three run bottom of the third with the key hit a 2-run double by Stella Donkersloot that scored Mackenzie Kauffman and Karli Olsen. Donkersloot scored on Taylor Schneider’s rbi single to tie the game at 4-4.
BHRV put three more on the board in the fourth as Blum reached on an error. Bomgaars followed with a bunt single. Bergstrom walked and 2 runs scored on an Emma Zoet double to center. Bergstrom scored on a Jenny Leuvano fielders choice. That made it 7-4 Nighthawks.
The Indians scored a pair in the bottom half of the inning to get back to 7-6. Kauffman singled and later scored as Olsen singled. Olson scored on a single to center by Brenna Benge.
BHRV went up 9-6 with two more in the fifth. Gabi Luevano was hit by a pitch and Charli Bomgaars reached on a bunt single. Zylstra drove in a run with a fielders choice and the other scored on a single to center by Bergstrom.
A three run 5th by Spirit Lake put them back to even at 9-9. Izzy Backhaus cleared the bases with a 3-run homer to left that scored CJ Ahrenstorff and Schneider ahead of her.
The Nighthawks regained the lead in the top of the 6th. Jenny Leuvano reached on an error and later scored as Ellie Woelber and Pottebaum each had bunt singles with Pottebaum getting the rbi.
BHRV took a 10-9 lead into the 7th inning and proceeded to erupt for six runs in the top of the inning. Zylstra reached on an error and scored on a double by Zoet. Zoet scored on a single by Jenny Leuvano. Woelber followed with a bunt single and scored on a single by Gabi Leuvano. Blum followed her with a single and both scored on a single by Charli Bomgaars. That gave BHRV a 16-9 lead going into the bottom of the seventh.
Spirit Lake picked up a run in the bottom half of the inning. With 2 outs Kauffman walked and scored on a wild to pitch to make it 16-10. Blum ended the game with a strike out.
Blum went the full 7 innings for the win. She scattered 10 hits giving up 10 runs and struck out 6. Morgan Fine went the first 6 and 1/3 innings for the Indians and left the game with the Nighthawks in front 12-9.
With the win BHRV moves on to State with a 14-2 record. Spirit Lake ends the season at 13-4.
