After a back-and-forth softball contest between rivals, all it took one swing on the first pitch in the bottom of the seventh inning and the game was over.

Natalie Vos crushed a Delaynee South pitch over the left field scoreboard to give Pella Christian a 6-5 win over Knoxville in a broadcast heard live on KNIA and KRLS. Both teams seemed to trade outs back-and-forth in the first few innings, before the Eagles started the scoring in the bottom of the 3rd on an RBI Triple by Lizzy Van Manen, who also tacked on a tally following a subsequent error.

Each team responded to the other with their bats in the middle portion of the contest. Following another two-run frame by PC in the 5th, Knoxville roared back with a four-run top of the sixth, before the Eagles tied it in the bottom half of the frame heading into the final inning. PC Head Coach Karen Harrill told KNIA/KRLS Sports after the game a year of strength training with a group of parents and another year of maturity has served the offense well, and that power was a key difference in edging out Knoxville.

“Last year, the weakness was that we were only hitting singles and we only had two home runs, so I kind of challenged the girls at the beginning of January and said ‘hey, we got to hit more home runs, doubles, and triples, because then you’re scoring more runs” she says.

Knoxville Head Coach Steph Christner told KNIA/KRLS Sports that she hopes that South can build a lot of confidence off of her performance last night. She said that South came through for Knoxville in a big way getting two strikeouts in a big situation earlier in the game.

Pella Christian was led by the walkoff slugger Vos, who went 3-for-3 with the game ending tater and earned the victory after pitching a clean top of the 7th inning in relief. Van Manen was also 3-for-3 with a three-bagger and 2 RBI. Emily Wallace led the charge for the Panthers, going 3 for 4 with a pair of doubles and 2 RBI.

The 12-4 Eagles are looking to avenge an early-season conference loss when they host Newton tonight, the 5-10 Panthers are heading to Eddyville to take on the EBF Rockets. Pella Christian’s baseball team will also host Newton, a game that can be heard live on KRLS2 at KNIAKRLS.com.