Douglas Miles

Your Prep Sports

CEDAR FALLS – A fantastic freshman gave City High late life, but the door to state softball was ultimately slammed shut.

City High youngster Eve Vitense drove in five runs – including an electric three-run home run in the seventh inning – but the 12^th-ranked Little Hawks fell short of catching No. 7 Cedar Falls, 7-6, in a Class 5A prep softball regional final Tuesday night at Robinson-Dresser Sports Complex.

“Decently inside pitch, I got my hands there and just drove it,” Vitense said. “I wasn’t expecting that home run, but it felt good and I knew it was going to get over there.”

The home run was the second this season for Vitense, and it followed up back-to-back singles from senior Avy Lindsey and sophomore Eliza Mitchell to open the top of the seventh inning. Suddenly, a four-run deficit had been trimmed to 7-6 with no outs.

“It felt great,” Vitense said. “We had a ton of chances to hit the ball.”

Stunned but unbowed, Cedar Falls junior pitcher Lexi Trueg (16-4) gathered herself and attacked the next three City High batters.

Two struck out swinging and the third was caught looking at strike three as the Tigers charged to the pitching circle in celebration.

“We struggled with her a couple of weeks ago,” City High Coach Jeff Koenig said of Trueg. “She threw a lot of changeups and we worked changeups and I am proud. We hit a lot of balls. What was working for her two weeks ago didn’t work tonight. We battled our butts off, it is just unfortunate that someone has to go home and someone gets to go to Fort Dodge, It didn’t work out for us.”

Cedar Falls (30-9) will open its first trip to the state softball tournament with a 5A state quarterfinal Monday in Fort Dodge.

It appeared early on that the team marching on would be City High (23-15), which opened the game with two runs in the first inning against Cedar Falls starting pitcher Sydney Runyan and another in the third off Trueg for an early 3-0 advantage.

Once again it was Vitense supplying the offense with a two-run double in the opening frame.

“Good pitches to hit,” Vitense said. “It was a little outside so I knew I had to drive it down the right way. Even if it was caught, I knew I would move my runners.”

Cedar Falls slowly charged back with one run in the third inning, then scored twice in each of the next three frames for a 7-3 lead through six.

“They basically do with the ball what you pitch,” Koenig said. “They put a lot of bloopers over the infield, just hit to contact and let the bat do the work. They did that. A few of those hits turned into runs and you lose by one run, that is probably the difference.”

At the plate, Trueg scored three runs and posted three hits, including a two-run double in the sixth that seemingly put the game out of reach at 7-3.

Runyan posted three hits and two runs batted in, while Keira Rathjen and Gabie Hanks each registered two hits and an RBI for the Tigers.

“They have all the tools,” said City High senior shortstop Lianna Hull, who will play college softball at North Texas. “We played them during the regular season (a Cedar Falls doubleheader sweep June 23 at City High). It was tough battles against them, so we already knew it was going to be a tough battle. We both played very well tonight, it just went their way instead of ours.”

Hull is one of four seniors that the Little Hawks will have to replace next season.

Starting pitcher Lance Grulke-Mangrich (11-9) is headed to Division-III Knox College, while Lindsey will begin her college softball career at NJCAA-level Iowa Western.

First baseman McKenzie Brown has also graduated.

“Lianna and Avy have been with me since they were eighth graders,” Koenig said. “Lance is probably the prototypical ‘trust the process and it will work.’ The kid has just pitched her butt off for the last three years. … And Mac, I couldn’t be more proud of Mac. That’s a kid that just grinds all the time at first base. Every single one of those seniors left the program better than they found it.”

Despite the graduation losses, Vitense (36 hits, 31 runs, 25 RBI) is among a stacked group of returners.

Iyana Merino (team-best 12 home runs) will join Vitense in attempting to follow up a terrific freshman campaign, while catcher Molly Carlson (10 home runs, team-high 57 hits and 46 RBI) will be the senior leader.

Outfielder Maeve Obermueller (.346 batting average, 32 runs scored and 33 RBI) will also be back, while fellow rising junior Quinn Brende (12-5 pitching record) will likely be the top option in the circle.

“More work in the offseason, we’ll keep getting better and better,” Vitense said. “Put some new people in positions and just work it around.”

City High        201  000  3  –  6

Cedar Falls     001  222  x  –  7

W – Lexi Trueg (16-4)           L – Lance Grulke-Mangrich (11-9)

HR – Eve Vitense

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