Wahlert sweeps Linn-Mar in a key MVC softball doubleheader

MARION — For the span of about five minutes, the hero’s cape was being tailored for Linn-Mar’s Hayden Koutny.

Then, Julia Roth went to work.

Roth singled home the tying run in the top of the seventh inning, sent home the go-ahead tally with another single in the ninth, and Class 3A top-ranked Dubuque Wahlert topped the 5A second-rated Lions, 4-3, in the first game of a Mississippi Valley Conference softball doubleheader Wednesday night at Oak Ridge Middle School.

The Golden Eagles went on to make it a sweep, 5-3.

“We all know how good of a pitcher Emily Koranda is,” Roth said, referring to Linn-Mar’s ace. “We told ourselves once we got our first run, ‘We can do this.’”

Wahlert (27-3 overall, 19-1 MVC) and Linn-Mar (21-4, 16-3) are two of three MVC teams — 4A No. 1 Cedar Rapids Xavier (27-2, 20-2) is the other — that have separated themselves from the rest of the league.

So this was a huge outcome for the Golden Eagles, both in terms of the league race, and for regional pairings, which come out later this week.

Linn-Mar was poised to take the opener when Koutny delivered a blast to lead off the bottom of the sixth, putting the home team in front, 3-2.

It was Koutny’s first home run of the season, the second of her career.

Storybook stuff, but Roth and the Golden Eagles switched the script.

Claire Brosius led off the top of the seventh with a single, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt from Ruth Tauber, and scampered home on Roth’s hit.

Pretty much the same story in the ninth: Brosius double, Tauber SAC bunt, clutch single by Roth.

Linn-Mar didn’t advance a runner past second base in the seventh, eighth or ninth.

“At the end of the day, it’s a matter of controlling what we can control,” Linn-Mar Coach Maddy Colbert said. “Just keep hitting the ball hard, and sometimes it will drop.”

Wahlert exhibited elite defense all night, particularly from its speedy outfielders.

“They’re fast out there,” said Roth, the winning pitcher in Game 1. “I can relax in the circle because they’ll run it down.”

Meanwhile, Linn-Mar committed three errors in each game.

In Game 2, the Golden Eagles shot to a 5-0 lead after five innings. Linn-Mar tallied three times in the seventh and got the tying run to the plate before running out of time.

Wednesday marked the beginning of a grueling end-of-regular-season stretch for the Lions. They’ll play at 5A top-10 Cedar Falls on Thursday, then will host a challenging 16-team tournament (12 of those squads are ranked) Friday and Saturday.

Then Xavier comes across town to Oak Ridge on Monday

“We need to stay focused on where we want to go,” Colbert said.

Dubuque Wahlert 4-5, Linn-Mar 3-3 (1st, 9)

At Oak Ridge Middle School

GAME 1

Dubuque Wahlert 100 010 101 — 4 10 0

Linn-Mar 200 001 000 — 3 8 3

Julia Roth and Lily Oberhoffer. Emily Koranda and Kaylie Alvey. W — Roth (11-2). L — Koranda (11-2). HR — LM: Hayden Koutny (1).

GAME 2

Dubuque Wahlert 102 020 0 — 5 8 1

Linn-Mar 000 000 3 — 3 7 3

Camryn Theisen, Natalie Ruba (7) and Lily Oberhoffer. Emerson Rutan and Kaylie Alvey. W — Theisen (9-1). L — Rutan (1-1). SV — Ruba (3).

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com