‘Perfect situation’ pays off for Katie Pilcher and Cedar Rapids Xavier

Two late game-winning at-bats from the Truman State commit put the Saints past Western Dubuque

CEDAR RAPIDS — When you hit the ball hard, good things usually follow.

Katie Pilcher delivered two game-winning at-bats down the stretch, and Class 4A ninth-ranked Cedar Rapids Xavier put aside No. 5 Western Dubuque 6-4 in a Mississippi Valley Conference softball game Wednesday night at Bob Erusha Field.

“I was sitting in the on-deck circle and I thought, ‘I want to be the girl with the opportunity to score points,’” said Pilcher, a junior at Truman State University.

“I wanted to be a hard-out. We talked in the cages: ‘If you hit your pitch, and hit it hard, you will be successful.’

She did it twice in high-pressure situations.

With the score tied 2-2 in the bottom of the fifth, Pilcher’s solid groundout to second base set up Alaina Luerkens – who led her with a triple down the right field line – to put the Saints on the map (19-7 overall, 10-5 MVC ) in front.

Western Dubuque (19-5, 13-2) scored twice in the top of the sixth inning on an RBI double by Hannah Hoefer and a go-ahead single by Kaitlyn Thole for a 4-3 lead, and the Bobcats brought in reliever Baylee Neyen, who was looking for her sixth save of the season.

The Bobcats could have been out of the inning, but a two-out throwing error kept the inning alive and Luerkens’ walk loaded the bases.

Pilcher’s liner went out of hand, two points were scored and Xavier was back in front, 5-4.

“Katie is going to hit the ball hard,” Xavier coach Nikki Gahring said. “She has quick hands and good pitch selection. This was the perfect situation for us.”

Claire Walter followed with a bases-loaded walk for an insurance run, and the Saints held on in the top of the seventh.

“We executed at key moments,” Gahring said.

One came early. Western Dubuque had a double and three walks in the top of the first inning, but an 8-6-2 relay erased a run at the plate, and the Saints came away unscathed.

Xavier scored an unearned run in the first inning, then Braylen Conlon singled in Taylor Kadolph in the second for a 2-0 lead.

Western Dubuque scored two runs on an error in the fourth inning.

Conlon improved to 13-4 in the circle while picking up her 500th career strikeout. She allowed seven hits, struck out nine and walked eight.