No lead was safe for the ACGC softball team at Van Meter Friday night, as the team came up short on both ends of a doubleheader, 16-13 and 17-8. The double win assured the Bulldogs of the outright WCAC championship. Each game lasted upwards of two and a half hours as both teams put on offensive displays.

After the Chargers scored two runs in its first at bat, largely due to illegal pitches thrown by the Bulldog pitcher, Van Meter plated three in the bottom half of the inning to take a 3-2 lead. ACGC scored two in in the top of the second inning when Jayden Carrick drew a walk on another illegal pitch and scored when Sierra O'Brien hit a double to left field. Reese Coffman's sacrifice bunt moved O'Brien to third and Savana Fuller's single scored O'Brien to give the Chargers a 4-3 lead. A single run by the home team tied it up at four apiece after two innings.

Van Meter retook the lead in the bottom of the third inning when it scored three runs and took back the lead at 7-4. The Chargers added a single score in the fourth inning to close the gap to 6-5. The bottom half of the inning saw the Bulldogs add three scores to its total to make it 10-5 after four innings.

A huge fifth inning by the Chargers in which they sent eleven batters to the plate and scored seven runs made it 12-10 in favor of ACGC. Base hits by Mady Kelsey, Carrick, and Kylie Young; bases on balls to O'Brien, MaKayla Hoing, and Fuller; and three errors by the Bulldogs all contributed to the big inning.

But once again the lead was short lived, as Van Meter scored three runs in both the fifth and sixth innings to make the score 16-12. After going scoreless in the sixth, ACGC managed a single run in the seventh inning when Jorja Hoover walked, advanced to second on a passed ball, and was driven home on a Kelsey single. But that was the last of the Charger scoring, giving the Bulldogs a 16-13 win in what was probably the wildest game of the season.

The Chargers managed eight hits against Bulldog pitching, with Kelsey managing a pair of singles, while Fuller, Jorja Hoover, Hoing, Carrick, Young, also having singles. O'Brien's double was the only extra base hit for the locals.

Savana Fuller took the loss in the circle, as she pitched a full game. She gave up eighteen hits, walked two and stuck out four.

Game two was tied after five innings at seven when the Bulldogs erupted for nine runs to put the game out of reach at 16-7. The Chargers hung in there through the fifth, scoring a single run in the first inning, two in the second, two in the third on a Hoing two run home run, and two in the fourth when Genevieve Hoover drove in two runs. Hoing's round tripper was her third in four games.

ACGC came up with seven hits in the nightcap, led by "G" Hoover's three singles. Hoing had a single in addition to her home run, while Jadeyn Carrick accounted for two doubles.

Three Chargers split the pitching duties, with Jorja Hoover starting the game. She was relieved by Fuller in the fourth inning, who was in turned relieved by Sophia Rouse in her varsity debut. The trio gave up seventeen hits, walked seven and struck out no Bulldog batters. The Chargers committed an uncharacteristic total of eleven errors for the two games.

The double loss concludes the regular season for the Chargers with a record of 9-15 overall and a WCAC mark of 5-11. Saturday's game with Glidden-Ralston was cancelled at the request of the Wildcats. So, that takes us to the second season when the Chargers will open regional tournament play at Panorama this Tuesday, July 3 with the game scheduled for a 7 PM start.

First game line score: Second game line score:

ACGC 220 017 1--13 8 5 VM 411 109 1--17 17 0

VM 313 333 x--16 18 1 ACGC 122 200 1--8 8 6

Charger Box Score: Charger Box Score:

AB R H RBI AB R H RBI

SFuller 3 2 1 1 SFuller 4 0 0 1

JHoover 4 3 1 1 JHoover 1 2 0 1

Kelsey 5 1 2 1 Kelsey 3 0 0 0

GHoover 5 0 0 0 GHoover 4 1 3 3

Hoing 3 2 1 0 Hoing 4 1 2 2

Carrick 2 1 1 0 O'Brien 2 0 0 0

KyYoung 3 1 1 1 Carrick 4 1 2 0

O'Brien 2 2 1 0 KyYoung 2 1 0 0

Coffman 3 1 0 0 Coffman 4 0 0 0

KeYoung 0 0 0 0 KeYoung 0 0 0 0

Bates 0 1 0 0

TFuller 0 1 0 0

Rouse 0 0 0 0