Newell-Fonda splits home tournament, falls to Hinton 8-7
A six-run second inning put Newell-Fonda in a hole, but the Mustangs tied Hinton before falling 8-7 and then answered with a 7-4 win over North Union.
Newell-Fonda’s annual home tournament at Newell-Fonda Softball Field in Fonda offered a sharp snapshot of where the Mustangs stand: one inning can still bury a good effort, but the lineup also showed enough depth to answer back and finish the day at .500. The Mustangs let an early lead slip in an 8-7 loss to Hinton, then regrouped to beat North Union 7-4, a split that suggested both pressure points and promising resilience for a Buena Vista County team trying to gauge its postseason readiness.
Against Hinton, the game turned in the second inning when the Blackhawks scored six times. Newell-Fonda answered with four runs in the bottom half, then chipped away with single runs in the fourth and fifth to pull even at 7-7. Hinton scored the go-ahead run in the seventh, leaving the Mustangs one swing short of completing the comeback on their home field.
The box score showed how steady the offensive response was after the early damage. Newell-Fonda finished with 11 hits, led by Quinn Sievers with three singles. Vienna Wingert added a single and a double, Ellie Sievers had two singles and McKayla Hanson doubled. Paige Erickson, Bailey Mandernach and Mylie Hinders each had a single, and Erickson, Hanson, Hinders, Quinn Sievers and Camryn Puhrmann each drove in a run. Ellie Sievers scored twice. In the circle, Ellie Sievers took the loss after allowing six hits and two runs in 5.1 innings, while Jocee Walsh started and gave up three hits and six runs in 1.2 innings.
Newell-Fonda co-coach Chad Hinders called Hinton “a very fundamental, well-coached softball team” and said the matchup was “a good test” that showed how the Mustangs handled adversity and where work still remained. That assessment fit the way the second game unfolded. Against North Union, Newell-Fonda scored two runs in the fourth to take a 2-1 lead, then reclaimed control with two runs in the sixth and three more in the seventh to close out the 7-4 win.
Quinn Sievers earned the pitching win against North Union, allowing six hits and four runs, two earned, over seven innings. Newell-Fonda collected eight hits in that game, with Vienna Wingert, Bailey Mandernach and Quinn Sievers each finishing with two hits. Mandernach drove in two runs, Wingert, Walsh and Puhrmann each had an RBI, and Puhrmann and Quinn Sievers scored twice apiece.
The split did more than fill a Saturday schedule. It showed a Mustangs group that can absorb a bad inning, but it also underscored the importance of eliminating the kind of early lapse that turned a tight game with Hinton into a narrow loss. Newell-Fonda carried that momentum forward, too, with later wins over Emmetsburg and Estherville Lincoln Central, a sign the home tournament may have been more tune-up than warning flare.
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