Packing extra clothes for their road trip to Newton, the Pella High baseball team managed to split their doubleheader with the Cardinals last night. The reason for the extra clothes? Pella was the home team on the scoreboard, due to their home twinbill with Newton being rained out in the nightcap. The Dutch dropped the opener, 3 – 1. Grant Judkins and the Little Dutch responded in game two, with a 3 – 2 win. Things got going early for the guys in green (and grey). Judkins’ 11th home run of the season put them in front early. The score was tied at 1 – 1 until the fifth, when the Pella junior came through again with two outs. A single up the middle plated two to give the Dutch a 3 – 1 advantage. Pella’s hurler had to fight through back-to-back singles in the seventh to preserve the win, after striking out the next three batters to end the ballgame. Coach Jesse Jablonski says his team responded well after the opening loss. Judkins went the whole way, giving up two runs on six hits, allowing no walks, and striking out eight. Pella’s split puts them at 21 – 4 on the year, and 13 – 3 in the Little Hawkeye Conference. Oskaloosa fell to Norwalk last night, so all Pella needs to do is split with the Indians on Monday to win their first ever Little Hawkeye Conference championship. First things first, they head to Centerville for a game later tonight.