#2 in class 3A Mid-Prairie entered Tuesday night’s game with #3 in class 2A and defending state champion Iowa City Regina with the momentum of winning seven of their last 10. The Regals had scuffled dropping eight of their previous nine but in the end it was Regina that took the rivalry match up 4-3 in Cedar Valley Conference play. Mid-Prairie jumped all over Regina starter Allison Stein, with three hits from the first three batters and cashed in on a two RBI single by Mariah Swartzentruber to take the early 2-0 advantage. Mid-Prairie Head Coach Justin Lutjen spoke in the post game about his teams offensive start.
“You’d like to come out of the inning with more than two runs,” Lutjen said. “Regina did a nice job of not giving up a big inning to us, after that first inning our bats went kind of quiet, and then when they brought in their second pitcher we just couldn’t make the adjustments we need to. We got runners on, got some walks, we just couldn’t come up with the big hit. Tonight is just one of those games where we didn’t do enough to win, and that’s the bottom line.”
Regina would get one back in the top of the second on an RBI hit by Jenna Lehman . The
Regals took the lead for good in the fourth inning, scoring three times on two hits and using a MidPrairie error to take a 4-2 lead. Lutjen broke down the defensive fourth inning for Mid-Prairie.
“We just made mistakes that fourth inning,we let a couple balls get away from us,” Lutjen said. “It’s one of those innings that just got away from us, and if want to go to Fort Dodge or get to where we want to be we have to clean that up, that just can’t happen.”
Mid-Prairie mounted several late charges, against starter Stein and her younger sister Hannah Stein
who came on in relief. The Golden Hawks would pull within 4-3 in the 6th on an RBI base hit from
Mallory McArtor. Mid-Prairie second baseman Emmie Leinen talked after the game about
the Golden Hawks’ approach at the plate against Hannah Stein in the late innings.
“She was pretty wild, so we just waited for our pitch the best we cou,ld, sometimes that is a struggle point for us,” Leinen said. “We did an alright job of it tonight, we could have done a little better.”
The Golden Hawks threatened to tie in the seventh, getting the first two batters on base but Hannah
Stein ended the threat by striking out the final two batters to preserve the Regina win. Olivia Lugar
took the loss for Mid-Prairie throwing all seven innings allowing four runs on five hits. Mid-Prairie
was led by Leinen with two hits, an RBI and a run scored, Swartzentruber also drove in two. With the
loss Mid-Prairie falls to 9-8 on year 2-2 in the CVC. The Golden Hawks are right back in action in
Kalona tonight when they host the Knights of North Cedar, we will have all of the action for you with
pregame at 7PM and first pitch at 7:15 live on AM and FM KCII and KCIIradio.com under radio plus.
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