Call it the return, part five. For the fifth straight year and the eighth time in the last 10, the Mid-Prairie softball team is going to the state tournament in Ft. Dodge. The Golden Hawks traded blows with the #1 Benton Bobcats for seven innings before scoring the knock out and a 6-5 win in the regional final Monday night at Iowa City West. Early game jitters were there for the Hawks as the Bobcats climbed up 2-0 in the first as two Benton hits and a Golden Hawk error allowed Savannah Halstead and Alissa Wiebel to come in.
Trailing the #1 team early and facing the dynamic Amber Fiser didn’t phase the Golden Hawks as they found offense in the second from a familiar source in Taylor Kurtz. On a 1-2 pitch Kurtz unloaded on a solo shot to left that got Mid-Prairie within 2-1. The Golden Hawks would take their first lead of the night in the third when Amber Kral delivered an RBI double to short center to score Ashley Sojka and Alex Rath came in on a passed ball to make it 3-2 Hawks. The Bobcats pushed back in the top of the fourth as Fiser drove in Shelby Hulsebus to tie it at three.
The teams continued to trade punches and it looked like the Bobcats might have Mid-Prairie on the ropes in the fifth when they took a 5-3 lead with four straight hits against Golden Hawk starter Kurtz. The Hawks answered the bell in the bottom of the inning with three runs of their own as Alex Rath came in to score when a throw from the catcher sailed into left field. Lexi Duwa came home to tie it when Amber Kral got into a planned rundown between first and second base, and in fitting fashion the only Golden Hawk Senior Whitney Christiansen delivered what would be the game winning hit to left, driving in Amber Kral to make the score 6-5. With the slim lead Kurtz had to go through the top and middle of the Bobcat order one more time and she sat all six down in order with Chelsea Kral and Emma Troyer combining on the final put out. Following the game Head Coach Kara Beatty talked about the final out and her teams focus.
“Other people said, ‘oh man, what do you think about being paired with the No. 1 team in the state,’ and I said, ‘lets go get it.’ I was really happy with our bracket, it was an excellent opportunity to show exactly what we are worth, and we talked about this before, the first game of the season I told [my team] that we played every team like they are the No. 1 team in the state, and we got our opportunity tonight and we seized it,” Beatty said. “It was a excruciatingly long out. We have two outs and I’ve got the girls in the dugout trying to maintain my own composure and I’m telling them to relax and I’m telling the defense that one swing isn’t going to hurt us here, and then I see the girl hit the ground ball and I was like, ‘just make the out, just make the out,’ and she did.”
Kurtz got the win for Mid-Prairie outdueling the highly touted Fiser, going the distance allowing 11 hits, six runs and striking out two. Alex Rath led the Hawks at the plate with two hits and two runs scored. With the win Mid-Prairie is now 25-10 and advances to the state tournament in Ft. Dodge where they will play the #2 East Marshall Mustangs for the third straight season.