Box Score SALEM, Virg. – HSU head coach Frank Cheek has told his ballplayers thousands of times over the years not to try to get tricky but to make the sure play.
 
Cheek failed to heed his own advice in a 1-0 loss to Kutztown University at the NCAA Division II Softball Championships on Friday. Trailing by a run in the bottom of the seventh, Humboldt had runners at first and second, no outs, and Tonya Walker at the plate. Walker had already laid down two perfect sacrifice bunts in the game.
 
Cheek had her swing away. Walker hit a sharply hit ball to third baseman Nicole Henninger who took one step to the bag at third, then fired to first just in time to beat Walker for the double play.
 
“It turned into disaster,” Cheek said of the decision. “That's a mistake. You bunt the ball. Everybody in the park knew except the coach. Should have bunted the ball. Now we have to come back through the loser's bracket.”
 
If Walker had bunted successfully, the ensuing short fly to left by Dani Randall would have tied the game, as shortstop Brianna Knipe had to make an over the shoulder diving catch to make the play that ended the ballgame.
 
Instead of getting a day off, the Jacks will be pressed into service on “elimination Saturday” where four teams will end the day packing their bags. Humboldt will play at 2 p.m. against the winner of the Valdosta State – Armstrong game at 9 a.m. If the Jacks are able to win, they would advance to play Central Oklahoma on Sunday at 9 a.m. Humboldt would have to defeat UCO twice in order to advance to the championship game on Monday. Any loss the remainder of the tournament will send the Jacks home.
 
“It was a tough loss but I think we can come back,” said Katie Obbema.  “I think we can come back and win. We lost, but that wasn't the second one. We can still come through and win.”
 
Obbema (28-4) pitched a complete game in the two games Humboldt played on Friday, a 4-2 win over Texas Woman's University and the loss to Kutztown. The lone run of the game against Kutztown came in the fifth with a leadoff walk to Maria Isgro, a perfect bunt single by Henninger that sent Isgro all the way to third, then a squeeze by Knipe.
 
The first game of the day for the Jacks was worth the wait.
 
After waiting all night to get in its first game, Humboldt State showed it was rested and ready with two home runs in the first three innings to lead the Jacks to a 4-2 win over Texas Woman's University.
 
Courtney Hiatt hit a two-out two-run homer in the top of the first, and Chrissy Stalf hit a solo shot in the third. Stalf's was her 28th of the season, tying the NCAA single-season record and the team's 113th, breaking the NCAA single-season record held previously by Metro State (2010).
 
“We knew Texas Woman's was going to be a tough game,” Cheek said. “We had similar records and similar hitters.”
 
“It's great than we came out and won the first game,” Stalf said.  “We did what we do; we hit home runs. That's how we win. It was great to be able to do it against a team that is also a home-run hitting team.”
 
The game was postponed from Thursday when a series of thunderstorms forced its delay.