Photo Courtesy of Mid-Prairie Baseball Social Media

It was a varsity split for the Mid-Prairie baseball and softball teams Monday when they hosted Durant in Wellman and Kalona in River Valley Conference play. The Golden Hawk baseball team was beaten on Senior Night 13-10 at Paul N. Bailey Field in Wellman. The Hawks fell behind 8-0 after four with just two base-runners and one hit in their first four frames. Things changed in the fifth when Mid-Prairie sent 10 to the plate, scoring six times on five hits with Tyler Helmuth and Alex Bean each delivering hits that drove in two and Cameron Pickard driving in one. Durant responded to the pressure of having their lead cut to two by batting around in the sixth and scoring five times to drive the advantage back to 13-6. The Hawks got one in the sixth and then mounted a last ditch rally in the seventh that saw eight men bat and three runs scored with RBI from Will Cavanagh and Karson Grout, but it wasn’t enough. After the game, head coach Kyle Mullet talked about the bats picking up in the second half of the game, his standouts and what he saw as the difference. “We went to taking first strike and we wanted to be more patient. Trying to draw walks and get base runners but ultimately what it did was it settled our guys down. Tyler (Helmuth) has been hitting the ball well, Cav (Will Cavanagh) has been doing a good job in the two hole too. Tyler has really been driving the ball to the gaps. Collin (Miller) has been doing the same, getting quite a few hits for us. On senior night, those two are captains, it’s good to see them have success.”

Seven of the nine in the Mid-Prairie order recorded a hit, with six driving in at least one run. Cavanagh, Helmuth and Collin Miller combined for seven hits, five runs and three RBI. Brady Weber took the loss on the mound for the Hawks. The starter went three innings, giving up six hits, six runs and striking out one. Ethan Gast got the win for Durant and also had three hits, scoring three runs while driving in three. Mid-Prairie honored seniors Cavanagh and Helmuth with a pre-game ceremony. With the loss, the Hawks fall to 13-10 and travel to Cedar Rapids to face Bellevue Tuesday.

The Golden Hawk softball team scored a come-from-behind 2-1 win over the Wildcats in Kalona to complete the season sweep. The Golden Hawk softball team is now 14-12. They will also take on Bellevue tonight in Cedar Rapids.