Karsyn Michael’s inside-the-park homer helps push Linn-Mar past Prairie

MARION — This was no home-run trot.

Rather, it was a home-run sprint.

When her late-afternoon fly ball to right field was lost in the sun, Linn-Mar’s Karsyn Michael was off and running.

Her 240-foot race around the bases resulted in an inside-the-park home run, which proved pivotal in the Lions’ 2-1 Mississippi Valley Conference softball win over Cedar Rapids Prairie in the first game of a doubleheader Wednesday at Oak Ridge Middle School.

“I didn’t know if it got behind her, or what,” said Michael, a sophomore who was credited with her third homer of the season. “I kept running, and I looked to the third-base coach who waved me in there.”

That play, in the bottom of the fifth inning, tied the game 1-1. The next batter, Mallory Palmer followed with an infield single and eventually scored on a wild pitch for the go-ahead — and ultimately winning — run.

The outcome snapped Prairie’s six-game win streak. The Hawks won the nightcap, which did not count in the MVC standings, 4-2.

Lions pitcher Anna Kaliban (13-8) retired 11 straight batters late in the first game and got out of a bases-loaded jam in the seventh.

Linn-Mar is 15-17 overall, 11-6 MVC.

Prairie (17-12, 7-9) snapped a 1-1 tie in the nightcap with three tallies in the top of the third. A leadoff error started the uprising, then back-to-back-to-back singles by Piper Johnson, Riley Redig and Audrey Lueck put the Hawks in front, 4-1.

Lueck was 3-for-4 in Game 2.

Linn-Mar’s Abby Mecklenburg — the Class 4A state long jump champion at last month’s state track and field meet — drove in both Lions runs in Game 2. She squeezed home a run in the second inning and doubled in another in the fourth.

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Photos: Cedar Rapids Prairie vs. Linn-Mar softball

Linn-Mar 2-2, Cedar Rapids Prairie 1-4

At Linn-Mar

Game 1

C.R. Prairie 001 000 0 — 1 4 1

Linn-Mar 000 020 x — 2 3 3

Tatum Goerdt and Lola Hawkins. Anna Kaliban and Kaylie Alvey. W — Kaliban (13-8). L — Goerdt (10-9). HR — LM: Karsyn Michael (3).

Game 2

C.R. Prairie 103 000 0 — 4 7 1

Linn-Mar 010 100 0 — 2 6 1

Lyla Canny, Tatum Goerdt (5) and Audrey Lueck. Elina Thomas and Abby Mecklenburg. W — Canny (4-1). L — Thomas (2-8). SV — Goerdt (2).

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com