HCHS softball plagued by close losses in Fort Dodge

 FORT DODGE (June 15-16) -- Close losses and low-scoring games were a common theme for the Harlan Community softball team this past weekend as the Cyclones finished 16th at the Fort Dodge Invitational with an 0-4 record.
 HCHS lost to 10th-ranked (5A) Fort Dodge 6-1 Friday in a first round game shortened to five innings due to a time limit. Three straight one-run defeats followed as the Cyclones lost 4-3 to Bishop Heelan on Friday, then fell short against Clear Creek-Amana (2-1) and Sioux City East (3-2, eight innings) on Saturday.
Fort Dodge 6, HCHS 1 (5)
 Emily Brouse’s fourth-inning home run supplied the Cyclones’ only run against the Dodgers. Molly Gubbels doubled and Lexi Larsen singled for the only other Harlan hits off Fort Dodge pitcher Bre Tjebben, who went 3-for-3 with a triple.
Bishop Heelan 4, HCHS 3
 Trailing 4-0 since the third inning, the Cyclones put together a three-run rally in the seventh, capped by Brooke Goshorn’s first varsity home run, but fell a run short and suffered their second close loss of the year to the Crusaders.
 Shut out on two singles through six, HCHS opened the seventh with a double by Madison Schumacher, a pinch-hit single by Miranda Goetz and Goshorn’s pinch-hit two-run homer in her first varsity at-bat of the year. The next three batters were retired to end the game.
 Tianna Kasperbauer, making her first varsity start as a pitcher, allowed seven hits and four runs in six innings.
CC-Amana 2, HCHS 1
 Clinging to a 1-0 lead since the top of the second, HCHS was unable to hold on vs. Clear Creek-Amana as two walks and an error set the stage for Abby Crow’s game-tying RBI single and Karsyn Stratton’s walk-off RBI hit in the bottom of the seventh.
 Cyclone pitcher Morgan Schaben had allowed just one hit and four base runners prior to the seventh. She finished with seven strikeouts and four walks in six and a third innings.
SC East 3, HCHS 2 (8)
 The Black Raiders tied the game with one run in the seventh and won it with one in the eighth to hand the Cyclones another frustrating one-run defeat in the 15th-place game.
 East’s Chloe Kramer led off the seventh with a double that helped tie the game and also drove home the game-winning run in the eighth.
 HCHS had just two hits in the game - singles by Kate Heithoff and Schaben. Schaben tied the score with an RBI single in the sixth and Schumacher followed with a sacrifice fly to give the Cyclones a 2-1 lead.