Lone Tree had seven baserunners through four innings, but had yet to put a run on the scoreboard when Ella Buser stepped to the plate with two outs in the top of the fifth inning at Holy Trinity. 

Buser’s hard ground ball into left field scored Ellen Carow, who led off the inning with a double, and cut the Crusaders’ 2-0 lead in half. 

Kayleigh Rundlett’s two-run double gave Lone Tree the lead in the sixth and the Lady Lions went on to a 6-2 win. 

Eighth grader Rylee Shield made her first appearance in the circle this season. She allowed no earned runs on eight hits and two walks over seven innings. She threw first-pitch strikes to 22 of 32 batters and earned her first varsity win. 

“She did a great job hitting her spots and mixing in her changeup,” Lone Tree coach Reid Kaalberg said. “I can’t say enough about how proud I am of her! I am also very happy with how we played defense.”

Both of Lone Tree’s usual pitchers play the infield, so giving the right fielder the start at pitcher moved Skylar Smith into the outfield and Hogan Eden to second base.

“Our whole defense responded well,” Kaalberg said. “We had one error in this game and one error against WMU. I think that tells you how hard this team has been working defensively.”

Arlie Lorack drove in two runs with a seventh inning single to put Lone Tree ahead by four. She finished 3 for 5 at the plate. Rundlett, Carow, and Buser each had two hits. 

Five Lions reached base on Holy Trinity errors, including Alex Dautremont who reached on error twice and walked once. 

“We hit the ball very well late in the game and that gives our girls some confidence, because we’ll face them again in the first round,” Kaalberg said.

The Lions travel to Fort Madison again on Tuesday for the postseason rematch. The winner will advance to the Regional quarterfinal at Highland on Wednesday. 

“I can’t say enough about how proud I am of all of these girls for continuing to come to practice and work hard,” Kaalberg said. “With the postseason coming up, the girls know everyone starts at 0-0 and these girls know that they can be tough to beat when we are at our best.”

WMU 3, Lone Tree 0

Winfield-Mt. Union senior Madie Anderson was untouchable on Thursday. The Indian Hills softball commit pitched a perfect game and struck out 18 consecutive batters during a 3-0 win over Lone Tree. 

Anderson finished the game with 20 total strikeouts. Ellen Carow hit a ground ball to third base for the third out of the first inning. Every other Lone Tree at bat ended in a strikeout.

The Wolves took a 2-0 lead in the first inning. 

Arlie Lorack was solid in the circle for Lone Tree allowing just one earned run on five hits and no walks. 

Pekin 3, Lone Tree 2

Pekin scored twice in the sixth inning to edge Lone Tree 3-2 on Monday, June 28. 

The Lions took advantage of four walks in the first inning to take a 2-1 lead without recording a hit. 

The Panthers had a baserunner in each of the next four innings, but Arlie Lorack stranded them all to protect the one-run lead through five. 

There were two outs in the sixth when a single and a walk gave Pekin an opportunity. Kendyl Noel hit the ball into right field for what turned out to be the game-winning triple. 

Lone Tree had just three hits in the game. Ellen Carow and Skylar Smith each had a single and Kayleigh Rundlett doubled.