Mount Pleasant rallies past Xavier in regional final

MOUNT PLEASANT - Things were looking bright for the Cedar Rapids Xavier softball team through four innings in Mount Pleasant Tuesday night. The Saints led 3-1 going into the fifth inning with just nine outs separating them from Fort Dodge.

Everything changed with a couple of bases-clearing extra-base hits from the middle of the Panthers lineup. Cleanup hitter Sarah Moffett gave eighth-ranked Mount Pleasant a 4-3 lead with a bases-clearing double in the fifth and slugger Bailey Johnson tacked on three with a bases-clearing triple in the sixth en route to a 7-3 victory.

'I knew they were a good hitting team,” Xavier Coach Nikki Gahring said. 'They didn't really hit Maria (Steffen) hard. It was just unfortunate those two key hits were in bases loaded situations.”

Mount Pleasant took a 1-0 lead with an RBI double by Johnson in the top of the third. Hannah Helms gave the Saints their first lead with a two-RBI double in the bottom half and Keera Ball made it 3-1 with a two-out RBI-single in the fourth.

Steffen, a junior that shut out Grinnell and No. 11 Adel ADM in the first two rounds of the postseason, was tagged with the loss for Xavier. Cali Liechty, a senior, picked up the win for Mount Pleasant.

Mount Pleasant scored their seven runs on 11 hits. Xavier had six hits on the night.

Xavier finished the season 23-18 overall with a 17-9 mark in conference play. Mount Pleasant moved to 31-10 with the win. The Panthers are the fifth seed in Class 4A and face defending champion Oskaloosa in the quarterfinals.