Linn-Mar, Cedar Rapids Prairie battle to MVC softball split

CEDAR RAPIDS — The dress rehearsal was a drama-filled draw.

The main event ... that’s eight days away.

Grace McCarty collected four hits, then scored the go-ahead run in the top of the 10th inning, as Linn-Mar edged Class 5A 13th-ranked Cedar Rapids Prairie, 5-4, in the first game of a Mississippi Valley Conference softball doubleheader Friday night at Prairie High School.

“We’re here to play,” McCarty said of the Lions (25-9, 20-8 MVC), who have won 15 of their last 17 games.

Then it was Prairie’s turn to win in dramatic fashion. Riley Sauser and Rylee Newhard hit back-to-back doubles in the bottom of the seventh, and the Hawks (26-11, 20-8) claimed the nightcap, 5-4.

These dead-even teams will play a game for survival July 10, a 5A regional semifinal.

Linn-Mar Coach Lindsey Murray opted to hold back No. 1 pitcher Jordyn Beck (11-2, 0.99 ERA) on Friday.

McCarty singled each of the first four times she came to the plate. Then she reached on an error in the top of the 10th to start the deciding rally.

“I was getting inside pitches, and inside is my pitch,” McCarty said. “The team needed me.

“We’ve been overlooked all season, but we really have great chemistry.”

After moving to second on Hannah Gralund’s sacrifice bunt and to third on a groundout by Sam Gangestad, McCarty beat the throw home on Madi Wells’ infield grounder.

Linn-Mar tallied four times in the first inning, then Prairie rallied late in regulation. The Hawks scored three runs in the seventh, on a two-run double by Rylee Newhard and a game-tying RBI single by Jensyn Jones.

The second game featured an extremely frightening moment. A line drive off the bat of Amaya Snyder hit Gralund — the Lions’ pitcher — in the forehead.

Snyder was the Hawks’ leadoff batter.

Both coaches and several others tended to Gralund, who eventually walked off on her own power.

Early indications were that Gralund would be OK.

“All good here!” she tweeted. “Headed to get a few stitches and I’ll be good!”

Prairie scored three early runs and led 3-0 until the seventh, when the Lions erupted for four runs, three on a bases-loaded double by Caelynn Obleton.

Snyder led off the bottom of the seventh with a clean single, then scored on Sauser’s two-base hit. Newhard followed by finding the gap to win it.

LINN-MAR 5-4, CEDAR RAPIDS PRAIRIE 4-5 (1st, 10)

At C.R. Prairie

Game 1

Linn-Mar 400 000 000 1 — 5 13 3

C.R. Prairie 000 010 300 0 — 4 8 2

Caelynn Obleton and Olivia Holm. Megan Steffens and Jensyn Jones. W — Obleton (4-0). L — Steffens (13-4).

Game 2

Linn-Mar 000 000 4 — 4 7 0

C.R. Prairie 210 000 2 — 5 9 2

Hannah Gralund, Marley Cerveny (1) and Olivia Holm. Dani Klees and Jensyn Jones. W — Klees (10-4). L — Cerveny (1-1).

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com