Sergeant Bluff, Ia (Northwest Iowa Now) – The Spencer Softball team was on the road Monday night as the regular season winds down to take on Sergeant Bluff-Luton.

Jersey Vail started the game for Spencer in the circle while Jalee Jacobson pitched for the Warriors.

The Spencer offense would score first in the top of the 3rd.  Kelsi Sonius bunted her way on with an infield single, followed by a Dakota Lux double to put runners on 2nd and 3rd with 1 out.  After Jacobsen picked up a strike out, Sergeant Bluff-Luton coach Jared Ocker opted to walk the top offensive threat in the Spencer lineup, Lucy Simington, to load up the bases with 2 outs.  Brynn Merchant hit a soft ground ball down the 3rd base line, and instead of taking the out at first to end the inning, the Warrior 3rd basemen opted to try and beat Sonius home with a throw for the force.  Sonius beat that throw and Spencer led 1-0.

Sergeant Bluff-Luton struck back in the bottom of the 3rd.  Faith Zeleny walked, but Vail struck out the next two Warrior batters.  Lily Delperdang drew the 2-out walk to put runners on first and 2nd, and Chloe Book ripped a single to drive in Zeleny to tie the game at 1.

Sergeant Bluff-Luton took the lead in the bottom of the 4th despite the first two batters in the inning flying out.  Bailey Ball drew a walk and stole second.  Zeleny would then knock her teammate in, making it 2-1.

The Warriors added to that lead in the bottom of the 5th with Chloe book getting a 1-out single.  Vail bounced back with a strikeout, but Marley McKelvey hit a high fly ball into Center that fell into no-man’s land.  With two outs on the board, Book was rolling around the basepaths to score and make it 3-1.

Spencer was able to get back one of those runs in the top of the 6th.  Vail led things off with a double, her second of the game.  Emersyn Scharnberg came into courtesy run for Vail, and after the next batter struck out, Madi Steven smashed a line drive right off of the Warrior pitcher Jacobsen, which ricocheted into right field.  Scharnberg would score bringing Spencer within 1 going in to the bottom of the 6th.

The first two Sergeant Bluff-Luton batters walked in the bottom of the 6th, then Joleigh Hensley bunted for a single to load up the bases with no outs.  Bailey Moreau would drive in Ball with a base hit, and then Zeleny was able to steal home, catching the Tiger battery napping and growing the Warrior lead to 3.

A groundout and a popout started things for Spencer in the top of the 7th before a Simington single.  Jacobsen picked up her 4th strikeout of the game to end the game and giving the Warriors their 30th win on the season with 8 losses.

Spencer falls to 23-6 this year as they see a 9-game winning streak snapped.  They will try to wrap up the regular season on a positive note when a ranked 3A opponent Algona comes into town on Tuesday.

Box Score                        R  H  E LOB

Spencer                                 2   7   0   8

Sergeant Bluff-Luton         5   7   0   9

WP: Jalee Jacobsen 7IP 7H 2R(2ER) 1BB 4K

LP: Jersey Vail 6IP 7H 5R(5ER) 8BB 7K

Chloe Book (SB-L) 2-3 R RBI 2H BB

Faith Zeleny (SB-L) 1-1 2R RBI H 2BB SB

Jersey Vail (Spn) 2-3 2H 2-2B (CR Emersyn Scharnberg R)