When you show up at the ballpark, there’s always a chance you’ll see something you haven’t seen before.  Last night, it was a walk-off strikeout that was the difference as Pella’s softball team beat Grinnell in the opening round of the Class 4 Region 4 tournament as heard live on 92.1 KRLS.
Destiny Brown had reached base with a one-out walk in the eighth inning, then moved to second on a sacrifice bunt and to third on a wild pitch.  When strike three on Ellie Cairney sailed to the backstop, Brown darted home with the winning run.
Pella had fallen behind 2-0 in the top of the first inning, but came right back with two of their own on a Brown two-run single.  Kinzi Van Wyk then put Pella in front with a two-run homer, although the Tigers took advantage of four Van Wyk walks to score two in the fifth to re-tie the game.
After Grinnell failed to capitalize on back-to-back hits to start the seventh, Pella won it in the eighth.
The Lady Dutch improve to 15-19 on the season and will travel to Huxley tomorrow night to take on Ballard in the regional semifinals.  The Lady Dutch beat the Bombers 5-1 all the way back on opening night in late May. You can hear the contest on the our KNIA2 stream at www.kniakrls.com.