CONRAD — The Marshalltown softball team held the lead for four innings, having faced only minimal threats from Sumner-Fredericksburg.

It only took one miscue to turn the tables and one more to flip that table on its head.

Sumner-Fredericksburg capitalized on a pair of Marshalltown errors in the late innings and made off with a 2-1 win over the Bobcats on Friday night in BCLUW’s Dave Lee Classic.

“It’s a bummer for sure,” said MHS head coach Madaline Dalke. “Every single girl (of ours) hit well, they just hit right to people, and [Sumner-Fredericksburg] made three really, really amazing plays that probably wouldn’t happen any other day.

“So I’m not disappointed, I’m proud of them, but it does sting a little bit.”

Marshalltown junior pitcher Emma Stupp swatted a solo home run in the bottom of the first inning and pitched five-straight scoreless frames before Sumner-Fredericksburg (8-5) scratched out single runs in the sixth and seventh.

Jamie Jones ripped a one-out double and her courtesy runner Madalyn Vsetecka came all the way around to score from second base on Kylee Krueger’s subsequent flyout to right-center field. Marshalltown freshman center fielder Faith Sommerlot made a running catch in the gap for the second out, but her throw back to the infield went awry, allowing Vsetecka to score ahead of the relay throw home.

In the seventh, the Cougars got a leadoff single from Livy Schoonover. Sydney Zupke dropped down a sacrifice bunt, and an errant throw to first by catcher Abby Janssen wasn’t backed up and allowed Schoonover to race all the way around the bases. Zupke was caught trying for third, but Sumner-Fredericksburg had the lead it needed.

Addi Murray got her third 1-2-3 inning to close out the Cougars’ comeback victory.

The Bobcats (6-8) hit the ball hard throughout the contest, as Murray finished with just two strikeouts, but the Cougars defense didn’t commit any errors.

“We need to be on our toes a little more,” Dalke said of her defense. “There were a few good balls that were definitely base hits, but if we were on our toes a little more, I think we could have knocked them down, kept it in front.”

The only ball Sumner-Fredericksburg’s defense didn’t get a chance to catch was Stupp’s solo homer to lead off the bottom of the second inning. She didn’t catch it cleanly, but it still cleared the left-field fence for her fourth home run of the summer.

The Bobcats continued to threaten after Stupp’s homer as well, with a single by Ella DeMonte and a double by Olivia Wise putting two runners into scoring position. Lauren O’Neal’s line drive to center field was snared, Faith Sommerlot worked a walk, but Kendall Brummel grounded back to Murray for the final out.

Marshalltown batted 1-for-7 with runners on base and 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position despite stinging the ball. Charlotte Reyes was robbed of a sure single on a diving by Schoonover at second base to lead off the sixth, and DeMonte’s line drive as the next batter was snared by Murray.

Wise finished with two of Marshalltown’s five hits, while Danielson and DeMonte both hit singles to go along with Stupp’s home run.

Stupp also struck out 12 from the circle, walked only one and surrendered just six hits in the hard-luck loss as both runs were unearned. She struck out four in a row at one point.

The Bobcats return to Conrad on Saturday for games at 1:30 p.m. against South Hardin and 3:15 p.m. against AGWSR.