Highland High School will play host to a class 1A District opening doubleheader Monday night that features two KCII area teams. These contests were supposed to take place Saturday but were rained out. In game one, Hillcrest Academy will meet English Valleys. The Ravens enter play with an overall record of 12-9, winning back to back games over Winfield-Mt. Union and Danville to close the regular season. They were 9-7, fourth in the Southeast Iowa Superconference North Division. As a team, Hillcrest is hitting .302, with a staff ERA of 3.42. Individually, the Ravens are led by London and Luke Schrock hitting .449 and .425 respectively. Each has 31 hits. London Schrock has driven in a team high 34 with a team best 23 runs scored. On the mound, Seth Ours, Noah Miller and Liam Schrock are a combined 4-0. Eli Ours has thrown a team high 34 innings with a 2-3 record and 3.91 ERA.

English Valleys is 6-15 on the year, they finished at 6-10, eighth place in the South Iowa Cedar League. They are entering the playoffs on a three game losing streak including an 11-2 loss to Tipton to close out the regular season. On the year, the Bears are hitting .268 as a team with a staff ERA of 5.70. Individually, EV is paced by Cole Stephenson with a .362 average on 25 hits with 12 runs scored and eight RBI. On the mound, Ty Moore is the Bear’s ace with a 4-5 record in 37 innings and a 5.25 ERA. These two teams met on June 19th at the Hillcrest Classic with the Ravens taking an 8-3 win.

The Highland Huskies will meet North Cedar in the night cap. Highland comes into the night with an overall record of 16-8. They finished 13-3, second place in the North Division of the Southeast Iowa Superconference. They have won back to back games coming into the postseason, beating Sigourney 5-0 and Columbus 21-0. On the season, Highland is hitting .318 as a team with a combined ERA of 2.05. Individually, the Huskies are led by Kaige Vonnahme at .371 with 26 hits, 24 RBI and 22 runs scored. On the hill it’s Chase Schultz with an 8-2 record in 55 innings with a 1.15 ERA.

North Cedar enters action with a 1-19 overall record. They finished 1-17, last in the North Division of the River Valley Conference. They have dropped 18 games in a row including a 15-0 and 14-0 sweep at the hands of Northeast Goose Lake on Monday. For the year, the Knights are hitting .219 as a team with a staff ERA of 9.83. Individually, they are led by Tadan Lange with a .383 average on 18 hits, 13 RBI and nine runs scored. Lange has also done the most work on the mound with 30 innings, an 0-7 record and 10.38 ERA. The winners of these two games at Highland High School will play each other in the second round of districts next week. You can hear both games as part of a playoff doubleheader on AM 1380, FM 102.5 and KCIIRadio.com Monday, beginning with the Washington HyVee Pregame Show for Hillcrest Academy and English Valleys at 4:30 with the Premier Shed Shop and Champion Metal Supply first pitch at 5p.m. followed by the Highland and North Cedar Contest.