Waterloo lets early lead slip away, toppled by Charleston in sectional title game

“We needed,” the Charleston senior catcher said, “a wakeup call.”

On cue, she provided one.

Angered that her teammates were not boisterous after a third-inning strikeout Saturday morning, Blair pleaded with her teammates to find their energy. The impromptu speech came as the Waterloo softball team rallied for three runs.

In that moment, the Bulldogs saw their momentum — and four-run lead — fizzle. Charleston’s new-found mojo put it in control from that point forward, forcing Waterloo to absorb an 11-5 loss in the Class 3A Highland Sectional title game.

“We started getting in our heads,” Waterloo senior third baseman Jada Voelker said of a third inning that went from a 5-1 advantage to a 7-5 deficit. “We probably thought we had the (sectional) title right away. We kind of let up, thinking we had a boost.”

Instead, it was Charleston (27-5) that found a boost. Blair’s message came after the Bulldogs (19-13), who were seeking their first sectional crown in 34 years, used four hits and two errors to build a 5-1 lead. The first run scored on an error in center, then Emma Day and Raelyn Melching poked run-scoring singles as Waterloo put the first five batters on base.

With the bases loaded and one out, Charleston hurler Addison Shrader struck out Mia Miller. Once she threw the ball back to Shrader from home plate, and with her teammates being silent in the field, Blair rhetorically asked them about their energy.

“We were really mad,” Blair said after helping Charleston win the first sectional title in program history. “We should not have played that way. We were going to show them who we are.”

Charleston did so quickly.

The first six hitters reached base safely in the tide-turning third inning. Before the Bulldogs could record an out, Charleston already had scored five runs. The inning featured two errors, two passed balls and a wild pitch.

By the time Waterloo reached the dugout, it faced a 7-5 deficit.

“They started putting the ball in play, and there were some plays I thought we could have made,” Waterloo coach Matt Mason said. “They hit the ball and put themselves into position to get close and put the pressure on us.”

Playing with their first lead, the Trojans regained their swagger. They added two insurance tallies in both the fourth and sixth innings.

On the other side, Waterloo had three batters reach base safely in the last four frames.

“We definitely started losing our talk in the dugout,” Voelker said. “We weren’t as motivated as we were before. … Normally we’re pumped up.”

Everything changed in the third inning, sparked by Blair's message.

“That was an easy time to quit, and they didn’t do that,” said Charleston coach Blain Mayhall, whose team meets Apollo Conference rival Mount Zion in the Decatur Super-Sectional on Monday. “They responded and kept the pressure on.”

Waterloo never could rediscover its positive vibes.

“That is a hard situation for any high-school team to deal with,” Mason said. “For the most part, the girls tried to stay positive. In all reality, when the runs switch like that, sometimes your team is going to get down naturally.”