Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

OXFORD – To make a postseason run just about every team is going to have to overcome a little bit of adversity.

Clear Creek Amana just did that in its postseason opener.

After Charles City (25-6) scored a pair of runs to take a 2-1 lead in the fifth inning Class 4A No. 10 Clear Creek Amana responded with four unanswered runs on its way to a 5-2 win in a Region 7 semifinal on Saturday in Oxford.

“We maybe didn’t do a great job early but I think we were more patient as the game went on and that was big for our hitters,” Clear Creek Amana coach Jodie Scheetz said. “We had a plan to hit the fastball or sit on the changeup and I think that really helped.”

It was a pair of young players that helped Clear Creek Amana (25-12) win its postseason opener and advance to the Region 7 title game.

Sophomore Lizzie Pasbrig had a pair of RBI singles, including the go-ahead single in the bottom of the fifth.

Classmate Elizabeth Timmerman earned the win, tossing five strong innings allowing just two runs on four hits while striking out two.

“I think we were confident tonight,” Timmerman said. “Even when we got down by one we were able to come right back.”

Clear Creek Amana will face ninth-ranked Western Dubuque (29-9) on Tuesday at Farley Community Park at 7 p.m. in the regional title game.

“It’s a good feeling to be playing in that game,” Pasbrig said. “We want a little more than to just make it to that game, we want to win it.”

Clear Creek Amana needed a late boost on Saturday to put itself in a position to play for a spot at state.

The Clippers took a 1-0 lead on Pasbrig’s RBI single in the third inning but Charles City came back with a pair of runs in the top of the fifth.

Clear Creek Amana quickly responded.

Reese Stockman led off the bottom of the inning with a double to left field and Kyla Schulte reached when he sharply hit ball to center field was misplayed.

Pasbrig followed with an RBI single up the middle that gave the Clippers the lead back at 3-2.

“I was much more confident the second and third at bats,” Pasbrig said. “After that first hit I knew I could do it again.”

Clear Creek Amana tacked on two more runs in the bottom of the sixth thanks in large part to an RBI double off the center field fence by Schulte.

The Clippers had six hits, all in the final four innings, off Charles City eighth-grade left-hander Addison Ellis who entered with a 24-3 record, a .68 ERA and 270 strikeouts in 174 2/3 innings.

“We knew to lay off the rise ball,” Pasbrig said. “We had to be patient and after our first at bats we knew what to attack.”

Timmerman worked five strong innings before giving way to junior McKenna Kelley who allowed one hit in two innings of relief.

“We had a good scout on them and we knew what they were going to swing at,” Timmerman said. “That helped, we had a good plan.”

Charles City                          000  020  0  –  2  5  4

Clear Creek Amana              001  022  x  –  5  6  0

W – Elizabeth Timmerman                L – Addison Ellis

2B – CCA: Kyla Schulte, Reese Stockman. CC: Brooklyn Molitor

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