Monday was opening night for the Mid-Prairie baseball and softball teams in 2021. In a doubleheader heard on AM and FM KCII, the No. 4 ranked Golden Hawk baseball team had little trouble with West Liberty, beating the Comets in both games, 14-3 in five innings in game one and 8-0 in game two. Game one was controlled by the Golden Hawks from the start. After Aidan Rath struck out the side in the top of the first, Mid-Prairie sent 11 men to the plate in a seven run, seven hit first. They would grow the lead to 14-1 at one point, after a run in the second and a nine batter, six run third, highlighted by a Rath two run homer. Mid-Prairie had 12 hits in the game, eight of nine in the lineup recorded at least one and eight of nine in the lineup scored at least one run. Rath was three for three with three RBI, finishing a single shy of the cycle. Kayden Reinier was two for three with three driven in. Rath got the win on the mound, going three innings, giving up two hits, one run and striking out nine.
In the nightcap, Mid-Prairie completed the sweep with an 8-0 win. The Hawks scored single runs in the first and third, with Karson Grout delivering the RBI in the third inning to put the Hawks up 2-0. Mid-Prairie broke it open with a 10 batter, six run sixth, that included an inside the park home run from Keegan Gingerich. On the mound, Gingerich went five and two thirds innings, giving up just one hit, walking one and striking out 11. Reinier was two for three at the plate with three runs scored. After the game, new head coach Kyle Mullet talked about his biggest takeaway from the Hawks opener. “I think our approach was great especially in the first game. Just getting guys on base and being aggressive. Our goal is to get them into scoring position, moving them over and putting the ball in play to bring them in. We threw it very well tonight, I was very impressed by Aidan Rath, he has been hurt the last few years and hasn’t thrown high school baseball in about three seasons, so to see him perform like that tonight was very impressive. Our lineup is a hard one to fill out, one through six, you can about put them anywhere in any order.”
With the sweep, Mid-Prairie is now 2-0 on the year as they get set to take on Fairfield tonight.
It was opening night for the Golden Hawk softball team also on Monday in Kalona when they welcomed No. 7 West Liberty. The Comets beat the Hawks in both ends of a doubleheader, 12-4 and 8-5. In game one, things were scoreless until the fourth, when West Liberty broke through with four runs in the top half and the Hawks answered with a pair in the bottom to get back within 4-2. From there, West Liberty put up an eight spot in the top of the fifth and the Golden Hawks could only muster single runs in the fifth and sixth trying to get back into the game. Sailor Hall drove in five to lead West Liberty. Brenna Jehle was three for four, all singles and Madeline Schrader smacked a solo homer to lead the Golden Hawk offense. In the circle Maya Lugar took the loss for Mid-Prairie, giving up four earned runs and three hits in four innings.
In the nightcap, West Liberty jumped out to a commanding 8-0 lead with one in the first, five in the second and a pair in the fourth, only to see Mid-Prairie mount a comeback attempt with two runs in the fourth and a three spot in the sixth. Katelyn Schneider had a hit and drove in two. Lugar went all seven in the circle giving up 13 hits and eight earned runs. Janey Gingerich had three RBI to lead West Liberty and Sailor Hall went five innings to get the win in the circle, allowing to hits and striking out five. The Golden Hawk girls are 0-2 and take on Keokuk Tuesday.