Saturday was busy on the campus of Hillcrest Academy for the first Hillcrest Classic. The tournament, previously called the IMS Classic, did not happen last year due to COVID-19. The Raven baseball team defended their home field in a pair of contests, beating English Valleys 8-3 and Keokuk 11-1 in just five innings. Against the Bears, Hillcrest got out to a fast start with three runs in the first, three more in the third and a pair in the fourth to open up an 8-0 lead. EV broke through in the top of the fifth with three runs but the Ravens closed things down the rest of the way for the win. Hillcrest cracked eight hits in the win and drew six walks. Luke Schrock was three for four with a triple and two RBI. Aiden Krabill drove in two and Jace Rempel, Josiah Beachy, Grant Bender and Liam Schrock all had an RBI. Krabill got the win on the mound, throwing four innings of no hit ball, striking out eight and walking five.
Against the Chiefs, the Ravens used the same formula, taking control early. After Keokuk scored once in the top of the first, the Ravens responded with eight in the bottom half and scored one more in each of the second, third and fifth innings to finish the contest early. Hillcrest had 10 hits and drew five walks. Luke Schrock drove in three, going two for three at the plate. Grant Bender had a pair of RBI and Seth and Eli Ours each drove in one. Seth Ours was the winner on the hill going five innings, giving up one run on three hits, three walks and striking out two. After the day, Raven head coach Danny Hershberger talked about the standouts for the tournament and his team’s play. “We turned some big double plays today and they were as pretty as they can look. Our defense played well behind our pitchers and they were throwing strikes. Our offense has done a great job of scoring, and scoring early. Eli Ours is coming around and getting on base, his teammates are driving him in. Luke Schrock is hitting well, finding gaps and barreling up a lot of balls and Jace Rempel is making solid contact for us and driving guys in right now.”
With the wins, Hillcrest is now 7-5. They will travel to Louisa-Muscatine tonight.
The Raven softball team dropped both of their Hillcrest Classic contests. Columbus posted their second victory over the Ravens in the last 10 days in the tournament opener by a 16-1 score in six innings. The Wildcats scored two in the third and seven each in the fifth and sixth innings. Hillcrest’s lone run came in the sixth. The Danville Bears then downed the Ravens 11-3 in the tournament’s third place game. The Bears scored four in the first inning. Hillcrest responded in the third with a Madeline Fox two out, two RBI double to cut the lead in half. The Ravens would get no closer the rest of the way as Danville piled on insurance in a game that ended in the fifth due to time limit. The Ravens are now 0-11 and will also travel to L-M tonight.
The Championship game on the softball side pitted Columbus against English Valleys with the Bears taking the title 9-3. EV built an 8-0 lead with two in the first, four in the second and single runs in the third and fourth frames. Columbus got on the board in the fourth, scoring three times, but would not get any closer. With the second place finish, the Wildcats are now 9-12 on the year. They travel to Pekin tonight.