Coming off a tough loss at home against West Burlington, 18-0, the Hillcrest softball team hit the road, hoping to end their two-game losing streak by taking on the Pekin Panthers on June 15.

Both Hillcrest and Pekin reside in the Southeast Iowa Super Conference, and this would be a rematch from a game earlier in the season between these two teams, with the Ravens taking the victory in the first contest. 

Breaking out the brooms, Hillcrest was able to earn the series sweep over Pekin in a high scoring game, 14-10. 

For Hillcrest this win gave them a 5-10 record and its conference record improved to 3-7. The Panthers remain winless on the season with a 0-14 record and a 0-10 record in conference play. 

After scoring three runs in both the first and second inning Hillcrest would take a 6-2 lead. Both teams would combine for zero runs scored in the next two innings before scoring kicked off once again in the fifth. Pekin would outscore Hillcrest, 3-2, in the fifth to cut its deficit to three.

The Ravens would tack on two more in the sixth to bring the score to 10-5 in their favor. In the seventh and final inning the Panthers would outscore Hillcrest for the second time that day, 5-4, but the lead proved to be too insurmountable for Pekin to overcome, leading to the Ravens winning by four. The 14 runs Hillcrest scored is the second most points they have put on the board this season, with 16 being the most. 

Seven Ravens would finish the game with at least one RBI. Sophomore Delaney Shaw led the team with three RBIs and tied for the team high in hits with four. Morgyn Nafziger, a sophomore, finishes the game with three runs scored, the team lead. 

Pitching all seven innings for Hillcrest was sophomore Malia Yoder. Yoder, the primary pitcher for the Ravens this season, struck out seven Pekin batters and this brought her total number of strikeouts on the season to 78. 

Louisa-Muscatine 15, Hillcrest 1

A daunting task for Hillcrest loomed before them as the second-place team in the Southeast Iowa Super Conference, the Louisa-Muscatine Falcons, arrived in Kalona to challenge the Ravens.

Coming off a win over New London the previous day to put an end to a six-game losing streak, the Ravens were looking for back-to-back wins for the first time this season, but the Falcons put a stop to that notion, defeating Hillcrest, 15-1, on June 13. 

With this win the Falcon’s record improved to 10-6, while this loss for Hillcrest drops its record to 4-9 and brings its conference record to 2-7. 

The Falcons held onto a 1-0 lead after three innings played but in the fourth, due to some costly Hillcrest errors, Louisa-Mucsatine was able to score six runs to take a lofty seven-point lead. 

Hillcrest would get two outs from the first two Falcons batters but the third out proved to be elusive, resulting in the abundance of runs scored the Falcons collected. 

The bottom of the fourth would see Hillcrest score its first and only run of the game to avoid the shutout. This scored run came from sophomore Delaney Shaw, who was able to come home off the bat of fellow sophomore Erin Bontrager. 

After the Falcons scored four more runs in the fifth the Ravens made a pitcher change. Replacing sophomore Malia Yoder, who finished with one strikeout, would be sophomore Kylee Statler. Louisa-Mucatine would score four more times before the inning came to an end. 

In the bottom of the fifth Hillcrest was unable to score another run, leading to the game ending early courtesy of the mercy rule. 

Hillcrest 16, Danville 9

The Ravens kicked off their annual tournament, aptly named the Hillcrest Classic, facing off against the Danville Bears on June 17. Hillcrest would take the win over the Bears, 16-9, to improve its record to 6-11. 

Danville would build a five-point lead before the Ravens were able to tie the game by scoring five runs of their own in the bottom of the second. Hillcrest would then take the lead by scoring twice in the third.

The Bears would respond with a single run in the next inning to cut their deficit to one, but the Ravens scored four more runs to take a 11-6 lead. After the Beats scored another run and the Ravens collected three more scores the seventh inning would begin with Hillcrest holding a seven-point lead. 

Both teams would score twice in the seventh and the game would end with Hillcrest emerging victorious, making it two wins in the last three games for the Ravens.  

As a team Hillcrest would hit the ball 15 times. Leading the team in hits would be sophomore Kylee Statler with three. Ending the game with a team high three RBIs was sophomore Lydia Beachy. Scoring three runs each was Statler, sophomore Delaney Shaw, and junior Anna Torok. 

Pitching in all seven innings for Hillcrest was sophomore Malia Yoder. Yoder ended the game with four strikeouts, allowing nine hits.  

English Valleys 10, Hillcrest 0

In the second game of a doubleheader in the Hillcrest Classic the Ravens faced off against another Bears team, but this time the team resided from English Valleys. Wrapping up this game in five innings the Bears were able to defeat Hillcrest, 10-0, on June 17.   

English Valleys would open up the game by taking a seven-run lead after two innings played. They would then tack on one more run in the fourth before scoring twice in the fifth to end the game early by virtue of the mercy rule. This would be the fifth time the Ravens have been shut out in a game this season. 

Hillcrest would end the game with two hits and both of those hits came from sophomore Malia Yoder. Yoder was also the pitcher this game and ended her day with six strikeouts, allowing nine hits. 

Hillcrest (6-13) battled against Winfield-Mt Union (4-12) on June 20 and then faced off against Central Lee (15-6) on June 21. Up next for the Ravens will be competing against Highland (13-7) on June 22 and then they will challenge Columbus (9-6) on June 23.