Softball action is featured on the KCII3 Stream tonight, as the Columbus Wildcats come to Kalona for a fight with Hillcrest Academy. 

After a 3-1 start to 2024, the Ravens find themselves caught in a five-game skid, dropping their latest to Mediapolis last night. Offense has been hard to come by since a 13-1 rout of WACO to wrap up the month of May. Still, impressive numbers have been put up by Claire Withrow who leads the team in hits and carries a .579 average into tonight’s matchup. An opening-day home run and five doubles in eight games have propelled Delaney Shaw to a .727 slugging percentage. Entering the week Hillcrest was hitting .299 off 52 hits, plating just under 8 runs a game. In addition to a team-high 10 knocks, Malia Yoder has handled a majority of the pitching duties. Nearing 40 innings in the circle, she’s limited opponents to a .244 batting average with 55 strikeouts to 29 walks. Behind Yoder, the Ravens have cut down on the errors from a year ago for a fielding percentage of .871. 

The last stretch of the season had been similar for the Wildcats, the victims of an eight-game losing streak, before defeating New London last night 9-6. It was a well-deserved win for Columbus, who dropped a pair of tight ones Saturday. A 13-12 loss to West Branch saw the Wildcats erase an 11-run deficit through two innings, before ultimately falling to the Bears. Iris Garza led the way with four RBIs and two runs. Lily Coil, who leads Columbus in on-base and slugging percentage, was perfect at the plate and drove in three. Ellie Sanders made a massive impact on offense this year. Her 22 hits are the most on the team by eight. The Wildcats have a team average of .277, with 66 runs off 89 hits. With shared work at pitcher, Sanders and Kennedy Woepking have combined for an ERA of 8.51 with 49 strikeouts and 61 walks. When these teams met last year, Columbus took both by a combined score of 29-0. Hillcrest survived a late Wildcat rally in their last win in 2022. 

Catch Hillcrest Academy and Columbus softball on the KCII3 Stream found at KCIIradio.com by clicking “Listen Live”. Pregame coverage starts at 6:30 p.m. with first pitch live at 7.