After Record 31 Innings and 5 1/2 Hours, Girls’ Softball Game Finally Ends

It took the equivalent of more than four full games, but the Waterloo West girls’ softball team finally beat top-ranked Garnavillo in a 31-inning game.

The 5-hour 35-minute marathon Saturday erased the national record for the longest girls’ high school softball game.

The old mark of 29 innings was set in March of 1976, when Helix of La Mesa, Calif., defeated Bonita Vista of Chula Vista, Calif., 1-0, according to the National Federal of State High School Assn. sports record books.

West’s 2-1 victory, which included 186 outs, 43 hits, 11 walks, 10 errors and more than 600 pitches, was 12 innings longer than any other game in Iowa.

Both pitchers, West’s Caryn Heise and Garnavillo’s Tracie Helle, went the distance.

The only runs came on passed balls until Angie Brown singled to drive in Jodi McCombs in the top of the 31st.

A regulation softball game is seven innings.