Down to its last out, North Polk rallies past Western Dubuque in 9

FORT DODGE — Western Dubuque was on the verge of joining a sorority of underdogs in the Class 4A semifinals.

Until ...

“The hit of my life,” Larissa Koth coined it.

It extended the game and saved North Polk’s bacon.

Koth delivered a three-run double with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning to tie the game, and No. 3 North Polk eventually edged No. 9 Western Dubuque, 8-7, in a 4A quarterfinal at the state softball tournament Monday afternoon at the Rogers Sports Complex.

“I want to say thanks so much to my teammates for getting on base,” Koth said. “I just wanted to hit the ball. I wanted to extend our season one more day.”

Tessa Dillinger’s sacrifice fly in the ninth sent home courtesy runner Ava Fjelland with the winning run, so North Polk (35-5) will face No. 10 North Scott (30-11) in a 4A semifinal at 12:15 p.m. Wednesday.

Western Dubuque (31-12) fell in the first round to North Polk for the second consecutive year. Last time, the Bobcats didn’t do much against Comets pitcher Ava Husak.

This time they did, and put themselves in prime position to join 4A lower-seeded squads Pella, North Scott and Adel ADM in the final four.

The Bobcats racked up 13 hits, led 4-0 after four innings and took a 7-3 advantage into the bottom of the seventh.

“We came here confident that we were going to win,” catcher Kaitlyn Thole said. “We worked a lot in practice on the high (pitches). We tried to lay off the high balls as much as we could.”

No. 2 batter Racquel Finn was 4-for-5 and reached base all five times she batted.

“It’s a little disappointing because we had more hits and fewer errors than they did,” she said. “To score seven runs off (Husak), that’s amazing.”

Western Dubuque scored two in the top of the third, two in the fourth. After North Polk closed within 4-3 in the fifth, the Bobcats went back to work. Kyla Ramler (fielder’s choice) and Lauren Ervolino (single) reach picked up RBIs.

The Bobcats got the first out in the bottom of the seventh, but a hit batsman, a walk and a two-out error set the stage for Koth.

Ervolino doubled to lead oft the top of the ninth, but she was tagged out at the plate on a ground ball by Morgan Hosch.

A Drake University signee, Husak (26-2) came into the game with a 0.87 ERA and 216 strikeouts in 145 innings.

Monday, she fanned only one. Five of the Bobcats’ seven runs were earned.

Western Dubuque will play No. 2 Norwalk (29-12) in a consolation game at 10:30 Tuesday morning.

North Polk 8, Western Dubuque 7 (9)

Class 4A State Quarterfinal, at Fort Dodge

Western Dubuque 002 200 300 — 7 13 2

North Polk 000 030 401 — 8 9 5

Lauren Vaske, Morgan Hosch (6), Vaske (7) and Kaitlyn Thole. Ava Husak and Lucy Lucas. W — Husak (26-2). L — Vaske (15-5).

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com