Both of the Tulip City softball teams walked away from Wednesday night’s action-packed doubleheader with a victory. Pella won game one 7-6, while Pella Christian grabbed the game two win on Senior Night also by a score of 7-6. 

In game one, the Eagles got the scoring started with a three-run first inning and added another run in the second to go up 4-0. The Dutch quickly responded by cutting the lead in half with a pair of solo home runs from Ella Corbin and Ava Curry in the top of the third inning. Pella Christian’s Claire Braafhart then collected her third RBI of the game in the bottom of third to push the lead back to three runs. Corbin cut the lead to two once again in the top of the fourth inning with an RBI single, before Katie Scheckel tied the game with a two-RBI single. Natalie Harrill pushed the Eagles back out in front 6-5 in the fourth inning with a single that scored Emri Agre. 

After a scoreless fifth inning, Pella grabbed the lead for good in the top of the sixth inning with a pair of run-scoring singles by Scheckel and Kylie Tauke. Kiki Riggin notched the win for the Dutch, throwing three scoreless innings of relief. 

Riding the wave of momentum from the win in game one, Pella got the scoring started in the top of the first inning of the nightcap. After Curry drew a lead-off walk, Thea Wisse doubled to score courtesy runner Autumn Blink to gain a 1-0 lead. Pella Christian tied the game in the second inning, when Emma Eekhoff came into score from an error off the bat of Braafhart. Both teams pushed across their second runs of the game in the third inning to keep the game tied. The Dutch recaptured the lead in the fifth inning when Curry doubled home Scheckel. Pella then extended their lead in the top of the sixth with a three-run frame. 

Trailing by four runs, the Eagles battled back to shrink the deficit to one, following a solo homer from Eekhoff and a two-RBI double by Alexa Dunsbergen. Pella Christian worked around a one-out single to head into their final at-bat trailing by just one run. Emri Agre led off the bottom of the seventh with a double and advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt by Faith Kacmarynski. After a Natalie Harrill bunt single, Agre tied the game on a wild pitch, while Harrill was thrown out at third base. With a 1-1 count, Eekhoff homered for the second inning in a row to give Pella Christian the 7-6 walk-off victory.

Pella’s record now sits at 12-20 overall and 6-14 in the Little Hawkeye Conference, while Pella Christian is now 9-20 overall and 4-17 in the league. The Dutch wrap up the week tonight at Indianola with a game that can be heard live on both 92.1 KRLS and 94.3 KNIA beginning with pregame coverage at 6:45 p.m. The Eagles are off until Saturday as they will end the regular season with a postseason tune-up game against Class 1A’s #7 ranked Twin Cedars.