Mother vs. Daughter

A dozen moms found out the hard way that their little girls have grown into competitive athletes on the softball field.

The Girls team bested the Moms in walk off fashion last Tuesday, June 27 at Trafton Park as Anna Harms smashed a triple down left field that batted in Danika Wilke who had previously reached first base on an error.

“We did good,” Harms said. “We beat them by one off of my hit.”

Harms believed that their defensive stops in the late innings were the key to their win.

“A lot of girls caught the ball,” Harms said.

Teammate Layla Messerly shared her thoughts on the game.

“I think offense and defense went well mostly,” Messerly said. “Anna hit the ball really well, she ran the bases really fast and defensively she got a lot of the moms out.”

Messerly predicted that her young team would win the game.

“It feels pretty good,” Messerly said. “I knew we would.”

During the regular season, the girls’ softball league featured two teams, the Pink Panthers that were sponsored by First Security Bank and the Fireballs who were sponsored by Hardware Hank.

The teams teamed up in their last week of the season to play their mothers, aunts, sisters and cousins and won.

“The whole season was great,” Malta softball coach Dean Yeadon said. “It wasn’t so much about what team won and how many hits or whatever, it was just good to see the girls’ progress on a week-to-week basis. They got so much better and they were leaps and bounds from what they were last year.”

The team’s growth in skill can also be attributed to the growth in numbers that they have seen from last year to this year.

“We had a few more girls this year and it was a lot more competitive and hopefully we can exponentially keep growing this thing,” Yeadon said.

Stacey Boonstra of the Moms hit the first RBI, with a single that scored Eva Harms from third base. Boonstra was followed by Nicole Young, who batted in Tasha Hines, putting the Moms up 2-0.

In the bottom of the first, Anna Harms would bat in a run, cutting the lead in half.

In the top of the second, Ashley Stuart would hit an infield triple that would score the inning’s first batter Jolynn Messerly from first base, putting the Moms up 3-0.

In the bottom of the second, Addy Anderson started things off with a single. Anderson would be joined by Rylee Hines on bases before Kelbee Nelson cleared the bases with a two RBI single, making the score 3-3.

At the top of the third Jamie Ulrich would score on a sacrifice hit from April Peigneux mixed with some crafty base running. The Moms would score again on an RBI single from Eva Harms, who batted in Sarah Judd. The moms would go up 5-3.

In the same inning, Ann Harms, Anna’s mother almost batted in Eva, her oldest daughter from first base before Ray, Ann’s husband called Eva out for not touching third base. Laughter and joy filled both dugouts after the call.

“My daughter (Eva) missed the base and I just gotta play the game fair,” Ray said.

After the base was tagged, the inning ended with the moms being up 5-3.

“I felt really happy that my sister was out,” said Anna after the play. “She was being a brat.”

In the bottom of the third, the Girls would score on an RBI single from Hailey Judd, who batted in Shaylee Hines.

The moms would be held without a score in the final two innings, while the Girls would score in the bottom of the fourth off of a Ellie Yeadon RBI single, tying the game in the bottom of the fourth.

Anna Harms’ walk off triple would come in the fifth.