The Mid-Prairie Golden Hawks rolled through Tipton on Monday night, sweeping a pair of River Valley Conference doubleheaders from the Tigers. In games heard on AM and FM KCII, the Mid-Prairie softball team opened the night with a 12-1 win in five innings. The Hawks scored four times in the opening frame with Madeline Schrader, Sophia Baker, Katelynn Schneider and Gabi Robertson all coming around. Tipton came back with one in the bottom half and Mid-Prairie pushed the lead back to 5-1 when Schneider drove in Baker with a single in the second. Things stayed that way until the fifth when Mid-Prairie sent 11 to the plate, scoring seven times ending the game early. In the frame, Schneider had a three RBI triple, Dawsyn Miller, Brittany Kinsinger, Pacha and Schrader all added RBI. After the victory, Mid-Prairie head coach Matt Hoeppner talked about his team’s effort. “We got out quick, we got on base. We are aggressive on the basepaths, we’ll run on anyone and we did that tonight. Katelynn Schneider, Madeline Schrader and Myah Lugar had great individual efforts tonight. They are our leaders, they show up early, they put in the extra work. The sixth inning was great, 11 hitters, all of those runs. The smiles from our girls during the inning is why I do what I do.”
The Hawks were led by Schneider’s two hits and four RBI. Lugar had three hits. Lugar also got the win in the circle, going all five innings, giving up four hits and just one run. Mid-Prairie softball completed the sweep later in the evening by a 6-0 score. Mid-Prairie got pairs of runs in the second, third and seventh innings in the win. Sophia Baker drove in two, Lugar, Pacha and Robertson each had one RBI. Mid-Prairie had six total hits. Dawsyn Miller got the win in the circle going the distance, giving up three hits, walking three and striking out five in the complete game shut out. With the sweep, Mid-Prairie is now 8-25 on the year, Tipton drops to 1-22.
The No. 7 ranked Golden Hawk baseball team had no problem with the Tigers either, sweeping them on their home field by 9-1 and 7-2 scores. In the eight run win that opened the night, Mid-Prairie scored twice in the first, three in the fifth and two each in the sixth and seventh innings. The Hawks had 10 hits and drew a pair of walks. Karson Grout, Vinny Bowlin, Alex Bean and Cain Brown all had two hits with Grout and Gingerich driving in two. Kayden Reinier got the complete game win, giving up five hits and one run in seven innings while striking out seven. In the night cap, the Golden Hawks put in a workmanlike performance to take a 7-2 victory. The Hawks scored an unearned run in the first when Gingerich’s ground ball scored Cam Pickard. Mid-Prairie added another in the third when Aidan Rath singled in Kayden Reinier to make it 2-0. Two more went on the board for Mid-Prairie in the fifth when Vinny Bowlin drove in Aidan Rath and Will Cavanagh knocked in Bowlin. Two more in the sixth made it 6-0 when Gingerich and Rath adding RBI as Reinier and Grout scored. The Hawks wrapped up the scoring when Grout drove in Reinier in the seventh. Grout got the win on the hill, going four innings, striking out seven and allowing one hit. After the game, Mid-Prairie head coach Kyle Mullet talked about his team’s performance. “I think what makes our seniors so unique is that we’ve got five or six of them that are all utility guys. They can play so many different positions. The leadership that comes from them is important. I felt like we did a great job be patient, having long at bats, making them work. A great example of that was Reinier’s 10 pitch walk where he started out down 0-2. That’s probably our best at bat of the year.”
Rath finished with two hits and two RBI. Gingerich also drove in two while Grout, Bowlin and Cavanagh each had one RBI. Mid-Prairie is now 15-5 on the year.