FORT DODGE — Chloe Cox and Grace Kruse had a field day on Tuesday, July 21, during Class 2A action at the IGHSAU state softball tournament.
Cox went 4-for-4 with three doubles and a home run, and Kruse belted a big early two-run bomb to lift Grand View Christian to an 11-3 victory over Cardinal to stay alive in the tournament.
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The win avenged a 4-3 loss to No. 8 seed Cardinal in the opening round. It was GVC’s second win of the day; the Thunder beat Hinton 7-4 earlier, and more importantly, it kept them alive in the championship round as they head into an elimination game against Regina Catholic with a 29-4 record.
“I don’t think anyone wanted to lose today,” Cox said. “I don’t think we were done. Even when we lost the first game (on July 20). We knew we’d make it here.”
Cox ended the game an inning early on a walk-off solo home run in the bottom of the sixth that ended the game on account of the 8-run mercy rule that goes into effect after five innings. She also had three doubles, finishing 4-for-4 with four runs and four RBIs.
“The first game (against Cardinal) I was swinging at pitches outside of my strike zone,” Cox said. “Anything below the elbows today.”
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Kruse hit her home run against Cardinal in the bottom of a four-run first inning. She hit her first home run of the season earlier in the day against Hinton, so she figured why not one more by belting a two-run blast against Cardinal.
“It just felt great,” Kruse said. “Especially it being my senior year. Just hitting two at the state tournament feels great.”
Kruse ended up 1-for-3 with two RBIs, Sophie Bird was 2-for-3 with a triple and three runs and Morgan Pelham finished 2-for-3 with a run as part of a 14-hit GVC attack. Eperlie Weitzel was the winning pitcher, following up her impressive showing against Hinton earlier in the day by giving up three runs on three hits with eight strikeouts, going all six innings.
Cardinal ended its Cinderella season with a 17-12 record.
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Joe Randleman covers high school sports for the Ames Tribune. Contact him at jrandleman@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JoeRandleman
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: GVC stays alive with win over Cardinal at state softball tournament
