A possible preview of the Region 7 Class 1A softball final…

By Mark Adkins

Upend Columbus in title tilt

A possible preview of the Region 7 Class 1A softball final was held at Kalona Saturday in the championship game of the Mid-Prairie Golden Hawk tournament.

Golden Hawk fans hope the outcome is the same July 25 or 26.

“This could easily be a regional final,” Mid-Prairie coach Amy Rath said of her team’s clash with Columbus Junction Saturday night. “We do have a long ways to go to get to that point, but having beaten Columbus Junction twice this season is good for our confidence, especially knowing that the girls can hit their pitching.”

M-P ended being the champions of their home tourney with a 5-3 win over the Wildcats. It was, as Rath mentioned earlier, their second win of the season over Columbus as they defeated them 8-0 in the Iowa City (West) Open early in the season.

The Wildcats opened the game looking like they might take Kalona by storm. After starting pitcher Jodie McCullough put the Golden Hawks down in order in the top of the first, the Wildcats plated a run for a 1-0 lead. They could have even more than McCullough’s RBI single but Paula Pugh was thrown out at home on a double steal attempt and McCullough was picked off second to end the inning.

M-P answered right back with three runs in the top of the second. A wild pitch plated Hannah Berg for the tie, Amber Ihrig drove home a run with a single and Pam Harland finished the rally with an RBI single.

M-P wouldn’t trail the rest of the way. The Golden Hawks upped the lead to 5-1 scoring single runs in the third and fourth as Jenny Miller ripped a double over the head of Wildcat right fielder Cheyenne Forbes to score Jaime Krantz in the third and Berg drove home a run in the fourth, scoring Harland.

Columbus rallied with two tallies in the bottom of the fourth as an error and a triple made the score 5-3. Golden Hawk starting pitcher B.J. Duwa bore down and kept the Wildcats off the board the rest of the night allowing only two hits over the final three innings.

Duwa, Harland and Miller were named all-tournament for the Golden Hawks.

“We will need to figure out their second pitcher (Shelly Tyndahl) if we get to a point in the tournament we we would face (Columbus),” Rath said. “She was able to move the ball around better than McCullough, keeping us off balance.”

In the third-place game, Iowa City Regina ended Highland of Ainsworth-Riverside’s weekend at 1-2 with a 10-2 win over the Huskies. Regina rolled out to a 4-0 lead after two innings and added four more runs in the fourth inning to blow the game open.

Krista Burich took the pitching loss for Highland, falling to 2-3. Jenny Sweeting finished the game two for two, scored a run and drove in a run for the Huskies.

“We were moving some girls around to different positions to see what they could do in different situations,” coach Dan Stout said of the Regina game. “When we saw that wasn’t working, we went to back to our original line-up and we shut (Regina) down after the fifth inning.”

Michelle Ossman and Burich were each all-tournament picks for Highland.

Semifinal

Mid-Prairie made it two wins in three tries over Highland this season with a 13-2, five-inning decision Saturday afternoon.

For Rath, the win was the first time where she has seen her team hit as well as they did.

“This was our best hitting performance of the year,” she said. “We were also able to throw in a good defensive game with our hitting, too. We finally had both ends of our game going well.”

All but two Golden Hawks scored twice in the victory over the Huskies. Freshman Erin Ruffin drove in three runs in the win, while Berg finished with two RBIs.

Highland was led by Ossman who drove home a run with a single in the opening inning for the Huskies’ only lead and Lyndi Hazelett who scored a run in the fourth inning.

M-P blew the game open with a seven-run fourth inning rally.

First round

Highland kicked off the day for locals in the Golden Hawk tourney with a 3-1 win over Iowa Valley of Marengo Friday.

“We are still playing good softball,” Stout said. “Krista pitched a solid game for us.”

Burich limited the Tigerettes to two hits and struck out two over seven innings. She was backed up by an RBI triple from Rebecca Stransky in the fourth inning, an Iowa Valley wild pitch that scored Stransky and Sweeting’s run in the opening frame that came about due to a walk, a steal, a passed ball and an error.

M-P had to fight off a solid challenge from a feisty bunch of Lady Eagles Friday night. The Golden Hawks managed to claim a 6-2 win but had to gun down two Keota runners at third and one at home plate in the process.

“Keota hits the ball really well,” Rath said. “We had to earn that win.”

In related news: M-P won two of three games at the Cedar Rapids Jefferson tournament last Wednesday and split a doubleheader with Williamsburg last Tuesday.

The Golden Hawks bested Hudson 2-0 and Cedar Rapids Kennedy 3-2 before falling to Fort Madison 1-0 at Jefferson. Harland was two for two at the plate, while Ihrig finished two for three with an RBI and Kelly Bontrager had a hit in an RBI in the win over Hudson. A sixth inning rally led the Golden Hawks to the win over Kennedy as Krantz doubled home the winning run. Harland finished that game three for four with an RBI and a run scored.

In the loss to the Bloodhounds, Fort Madison starting pitcher Erica Martinez struck out 17 and limited to M-P to two hits (Krantz and Ihrig).

In JV action, the Golden Hawks were 11-20 heading into a tournament at Jefferson Monday. At a tournament at Jefferson last week, the team finished 1-2 defeating Lisbon 7-2 and falling to Clear Creek-Amana 9-0 and the host Jayhawks 7-2.

Kelly Adam was two for three at the plate in the win over Lisbon, while Jenna Brenneman and Jennifer Knerr each doubled and Stephanie Beeler limited the Lions to no earned runs.

Vicki Jepson had one of three hits in the loss to CC-A and Kelsey TeBockhorst finished two for three with a double and Tamra Gustafson was two for three in the loss to Jefferson.