Southeast Valley narrowly edged out Manson Northwest Webster for a win on Wednesday night in Harcourt. The Jags went back and forth with the Cougars in a seven inning game that saw a lot of offense from both sides, but in the bottom of the seventh walked off with a 10-9 victory.

The Cougars would strike early in the first inning plating three runs off of senior pitcher Maddie VanSickle. Chloe Lambert made her return to the circle for the first time since pitching against Eagle Grove more than two weeks ago. Lambert was able to keep the Cougars off balance through three innings allowing for the Southeast Valley bats to come alive.

In the second inning, the Jags got one run back after allowing three to cross. This was the result of a Chloe Lambert single followed by a Camryn Lane (courtesy running for Chloe) steal. Lane would score from second on an Alex Kitchen SAC fly to right field.

In the third, the Cougars would add one more run, but the Jaguar bats would get rolling and runs would pour in. The batting order would start from the top with junior Ellie Nolte getting things started with a leadoff. Kenna Scott and Lauren Eslick would follow Nolte’s lead with singles of their own to load the bases for the Jags. Maddie VanSickle would drive in a run with a single of her own and with runners on first and second, Jordyn Rowley stepped into the box and hit a laser beam, deep, to the left-center gap, driving in both Eslick (from second), and Vansickle from first. Lambert would drive Rowley in for an RBI herself and freshman runner, Camryn Lane, would score after stealing second and Alex Kitchen hit a double. After three innings of play, the Jags would be up by a score of 6-4.

The Cougars couldn’t produce a run in the fourth, but the Jags plated two more for insurance. Kenna Scott and Lauren Eslick would again reach base after a pair of singles and would be brought in again off the bat of Jordyn Rowley, this time a single up the middle bringing the score to 8-4 in favor of the Jags.

The insurance runs collected in the third and fourth innings proved to be crucial after the Cougars put up four runs of their own in the fifth to even the score at 8. Thankfully, the Jags put up one run in the 6th to regain the lead, but it would be short lived as the Cougars would tie the game back up at nine a piece going into the bottom of the seventh inning. Freshman Rian Schlief led things off with a hard hit single that found a gap in center field. Fellow freshman Brooke Peterson would replace Schlief on the bases as a pinch runner. After a pop up to the catcher from Alex Kitchen, junior Leilah Olson would step up to the plate and hit a solid single to the left-center gap advancing Peterson to second and putting herself on first.

One out was on the board when junior leadoff hitter Ellie Nolte made her fourth plate appearance. Nolte worked the count full and fouled off several pitches before she won the battle and the game in walk-off fashion for the Jags. Nolte would hit a line drive that landed short of the Manson left fielder, scoring Peterson from third after she advanced resulting from a wild pitch.

“The bottom of the lineup has been producing very well for us as of lately and tonight was no different. They always come through when we need them the most, getting base runners on and in scoring position for the top of our lineup to bring them home.” Coach Gealow commented. “Tonight was a complete team effort and we saw a lot of production from everybody, it’s great to see that at this point in the season!” added Gealow. The Jags saw several batters go .500 or better on the night including Ellie Nolte, Kenna Scott, Lauren Eslick, Jordyn Rowley, Chloe Lambert, and Rian Schlief.

Southeast Valley travels to Emmetsburg on Thursday to cap their conference season in a rescheduled game.