The Norwalk softball and baseball teams both won walk-off thrillers vs. Oskaloosa Friday night in Little Hawkeye Conference action at the Norwalk Sports Complex.
In a game heard on KNIA-KRLS.com, the Warrior softball team defeated the Indians 3-2 in eight innings on pinch-runner Savannah Welch’s head-first slide into home plate. With runners on second and third and one out, Welch dashed home on Taylor Condon’s ground ball to third and narrowly beat the tag of Osky catcher Olivia Gordon to end an exciting, error-free contest.
“Man, what a great slide by Savannah there,” said Norwalk head coach Beau Livingston. “She’s a track kid… She’s athletic. We had our down ball call on, so any ball that was hit down she was taking off, and man what a great slide. It was fun.”
Following three perfect innings by Norwalk starting pitcher Addi Downe, Oskaloosa struck first with two runs in the top of the fourth. Indians’ pitcher Faith DeRonde, an Iowa State volleyball recruit, led off the inning with a triple while Aubrey Boender and Lucy Roach hit two-out RBI singles.
Norwalk tied the game in the fifth, ignited by number-nine batter Bailey Birmingham’s leadoff triple. Nyah Hulbert followed with an RBI single and catcher Lauren Black tied things up with a line drive sac fly to left.
The scored remained 2-2 until the bottom of the eighth, when Downe’s leadoff walk set the stage for Welch to steal second base, advance to third on a wild pitch and later score the game-winner.
Downe and Zadie Wadle combined on a six-hitter for the Warriors, walking none and striking out nine. Wadle, now 3-1, pitched the final three and ⅓ innings for the win.
“When we tied it up I felt real good with ‘Z’ out there, but Addi threw well. She did her job,” Coach Livingston added. “We like to get through the lineup a few times with her and I thought she was really effective.”
Hulbert and Morgan Weeks both went 2-for-4 at the top of Norwalk’s lineup while DeRonde tripled and doubled to lead Oskaloosa. DeRonde struck out 10 in defeat, allowing seven hits and walking six.
Friday’s baseball game also ended in walk-off fashion when Dylan Christensen’s ground ball to the right side scored pinch-runner Gabe Johnson from third with one out to give Norwalk a 4-3 win over Osky. Ian Fisher led off the Warrior seventh with a walk before giving way on the base paths to Christensen, who was also the winning pitcher with four innings of relief.
The Norwalk baseball team improved to 9-5 overall and evened its Little Hawkeye record at 2-2. The Warriors will return to action Monday for a varsity doubleheader at Newton.
The Norwalk softball team, now 5-1 overall and 4-0 in the conference, will travel to Oskaloosa today for a pair of games, playing North Mahaska at 11 a.m. and Mount Vernon at 2:30 – the Warriors’ sixth and seventh games of the week.