WATERLOO — Hits were hard to come by at Waterloo East Saturday night. Cedar Rapids Prairie still found its way on base and, more importantly, across the plate.

Waterloo East committed five errors — three of them turned into four unearned runs in the top of the fifth inning — and it gave Prairie a 4-0 upset victory in the semifinals of the Class 5A regional softball tournament.

Prairie (9-28) earned a date against No. 9 Iowa City West (35-6) in the regional finals Tuesday night at Iowa City West, with the winner going to the state tournament.

Iowa City West swept Prairie during the regular season, 12-1 and 10-1, so the Hawks will need a huge upset Tuesday.

Waterloo East ended its season with a 25-12 record with its five errors and the loss to Prairie.

“The last week or so, we’ve been struggling. They aren’t hard plays to make, but we’re not doing it. And it cost us big time,” said East Coach Gene Laughlin. “That was the bottom line. We didn’t make plays and didn’t deserve to win.”

Trojan pitcher Alyson Netty surrendered just three hits, one being a double to Malia Gudenkauf to lead off the fifth. But after that two-bagger, five more Hawks reached base in the inning — none by way of a hit.

“She threw excellent,” Laughlin added. “But that one inning, when you’re playing with that kind of pressure — I don’t care who you are, it’s tough.”

Three pitches also went to the backstop to bring in runs and advance runners. Netty added seven strikeouts, but Prairie pitcher Katelyn Kuch ended up as the star of the night.

Kuch also allowed just three hits and didn’t let East sniff a comeback once she was given the lead.

“There were some times they put the ball in play pretty hard and we had to step up and make a play,” said Prairie Coach Kimi Hynek. “We put the ball in play and were able to capitalize on it a little bit. They put the ball in play and we played solid defense.”

Katelyn Kinnetz, Kesley Rash and Katie Henry came up with the hits for the Trojans, but for Rash, Netty and four other seniors it was an abrupt end.

Waterloo East lost six of its last seven games.

“These seniors are the favorite senior class I’ve had. They worked their butts off, always came to play and never took a day off at practice,” said Laughlin. “They deserved a better fate, but you have to make plays.”

PRAIRIE (4)
T.Stecklein, 2b, 4 1 0 0, H.Lueck, cf, 3 0 0 0, O'Brian, c, 4 0 0 0, Rumer, dp, 4 0 0 0, Stevenson, 3b, 2 0 1 0, Kuch, p, 2 0 0 0, Gudenkauf, 1b, 3 1 2 0, A.Stecklein, ss, 3 1 0 0, Jones, rf, 3 0 0 0, C.Lueck, lf/flex, 0 0 0 0. Totals 28 4 3 0.

WATERLOO EAST (0)
Kinnetz,ss, 3 0 1 0, Wroe, 1b, 3 0 0 0, Netty, p, 3 0 0 0, M.Nichols, lf, 3 0 0 0, Rash, dp, 2 0 1 0, Thompson, c, 2 0 0 0, Schmidt, 2b, 3 0 0 0, A.Nichols, cf, 2 0 0 0, Henry, 3b, 2 0 1 0, Frank, rf, 0 0 0 0. Totals 23 0 3 0.

Prairie             000 040 0 – 4 3 0
Waterloo East  000 000 0 – 0 3 5

Kuch and O'Brian; Netty and Thompson. W - Kuch. L - Netty. 2B – Gudenkauf.