Photo Courtesy of MP Softball Social Media

The Mid-Prairie Golden Hawk softball team begins their second season tonight with a trip west to Chariton for the quarterfinal round of the Class 3A Regional Tournament. The Hawks are 7-23 overall, finishing 5-13, sixth in the River Valley conference, dropping their last six games coming into Thursday, including their regular season finale July 3rd on Senior Night in Kalona against No. 11 West Liberty 8-6. On the year, the Hawks have a team average of .279 with a .368OBP and .363 slug, scoring 163 runs on 216 hits with 76 walks and 134 strikeouts. Four Hawks are hitting .300 or better led by Dakota Mitchell at .402 with a team best 35 runs and 35 hits. Kadence Grout leads with 24 runs driven in. Sophie Miller and Gabi Robertson are also hitting better than .300. In the circle, Grout is 6-15 with a .365 opponent average on 209 hits, 92 earned runs, 34 walks, 44 strikeouts and a 5.35ERA.

Chariton is 14-9 this year. The Chargers went 9-5 in the South Central Conference to finish third. They were beaten in their regular season finale Monday by Creston 2-1. This year, the Chargers hit .326 as a group with a .403OBP and .444 slug, scoring 167 runs on 205 hits with 31 walks and 85 strikeouts. Individually, six players hit .300 or better led by Addie McGee at .577 with 41 total hits and 33 runs scored. Lucy Stratton has driven in 32 this year. In the circle, Stratton is 14-8 with a .217 opponent average on 127 hits, 66 earned runs, and 51 strikeouts with a 3.50ERA. This week, Golden Hawk head coach Amy Hartsock-Williams joined the KCII PM Sports Page to talk about the keys for the Hawks and what she wants to see from her team.

Hartsock-Williams said, “Make the routine plays on defense. We’ve also been looking at things that can help us generate outs. When we have the other team with runners on base we have got to manufacture outs. We have to prevent big innings. We have to find a way out. We have to be smart on the bases. Those kinds of things. The things we have been working on all season, but right now, these things have to happen.”

These teams have met once previously, in the 2022 postseason, where the Chargers scored a 13-1 win. You can hear all of the action live on AM 1380, FM 102.5, the KCII2 App and KCIIradio.com tonight, beginning with the Golden Hawk Pregame Show at 6:30 and first pitch between the Hawks and Chargers live at 7p.m.