NORTHWOOD,IOWA— The Northwood-Kensett softball team experienced a roller coaster ride of sorts on Friday night against Riceville in Northwood.

After trailing by five runs early, the Vikings fought all the way back to take a 9-6 lead after four innings before Riceville scored seven runs over the final three innings to defeat Northwood-Kensett 13-9.

“We dug ourselves into a 5-0 hole in the first inning, that was the hardest part to get out of,” Northwood-Kensett head coach Aaron Foster said. “Our kids battled back and it’s one of the best games i’ve seen here in a long time.”

Things didn’t start well for the Vikings as the Wildcats struck first with a five run first inning that featured three RBI singles and two errors that led to the early Riceville lead.

“This is really our first real game,” Foster said. “Our kids are getting used to playing together again.”

Northwood-Kensett trailed 6-4 before it exploded for five runs in the bottom of the fourth inning capped by a wild pitch that allowed Britney Low and Courtney Eilertson to score and end the inning with a 9-6 lead.

The Wildcats responded as they scored four runs in the fifth, two in the sixth and one in the seventh and relief pitcher Amanda Lubbert shut down the Vikings the final 3 1/3 innings to capture the victory for Riceville.

“We had a tough time adjusting to the pitcher,” Foster said. “And to get us out of that hole, we didn’t have time to adjust.”

While Northwood-Kensett had trouble with Lubbert, the Vikings also had problems in the field.

Northwood-Kensett committed eight errors on the night that allowed several unearned runs to cross the plate.

“The fundamentals are huge,” Foster said. “Catching pop flys, putting your glove to the ground, getting grounders those types of stuff are big things. What hurt us was fundamentals.”

Senior Lauren Severson took the loss for the Vikings.

Severson went all seven innings and allowed nine hits and struck out seven.

Northwood-Kensett hits the diamond again Tuesday against North Iowa.

Riceville 13, Northwood-Kensett 9

Riceville 510 042 1 — 13 9 3

Northwood-Kensett 130 500 0 — 9 7 8

WP— Brooke Foster 5 IP, 7 H, 9 R, 7 BB, 5 K

LP- Lauren Severson 7 IP, 9 H, 13 R, 2 BB, 7 K