The Hillcrest Academy Raven baseball and softball teams were busy over the weekend with a pair of games at their home Hillcrest Classic tournament. The Raven baseball team opened Saturday with an 11-1 win over English Valleys in five innings. Hillcrest put up two runs in the first, a six spot in the second and one in each of the third, fourth, and fifth innings to finish out the win. Hillcrest outhit the Bears 11-3 and took advantage of eight walks. Grant Bender finished with four RBI in the victory, and a triple. Mason Helmuth drove in a pair on two hits. Bender was the winning pitcher, working five innings, giving up three hits, no earned runs and striking out three. Hillcrest doubled up the Keokuk Chiefs later in the afternoon 4-2. The Ravens scored first, putting up a single run in the first. Keokuk took a brief lead with a pair of runs in the third, only to see Hillcrest score single runs in the fourth, fifth and sixth to complete the comeback. The Ravens finished with four total hits, one each from Liam Schrock Seth Ours, Luke Schrock and Jace Rempel, with Liam Schrock belting a solo homer and Luke Schrock driving in one. Rempel threw the complete game win, allowing just four hits, two runs, walking three and striking out five. Following the two wins, Hillcrest has now won six straight and has a 15-2 overall record.
The Hillcrest Academy softball team split their two games Saturday. They started the day beating Danville 16-9. The Bears built an early 5-0 lead through the first inning and a half. The Ravens erased that with a five spot in the second and took the lead for good with two more in the third. They continued to add on with four more in the fourth and three more in the fifth before finishing with a pair of runs in the seventh. Hillcrest pounded out 15 hits in the win. Lydia Beachy drove in three, Claire Withrow, Malia Yoder and Erin Bontrager had two RBI each. Yoder recorded the complete game win in the circle, giving up nine hits, four earned runs, a walk and striking out four. In the tourney capper, the Ravens were beaten 10-0 by English Valleys in five innings. The Bears put up two runs in the first, five more in the second, one in the fourth and a pair in the fifth to finish the game early. Hillcrest was outhit 9-2 in the game. Yoder had both hits for the Ravens and took the loss in the circle, allowing nine hits, six earned runs and striking out six.
The Ravens are back in action Monday when the softball team takes on Holy Trinity at Mount Mercy University in Cedar Rapids and the baseball team matches up with the Burlington Notre Dame Nikes at Duane Banks Field in Iowa City, home of the Iowa Hawkeyes. You can hear all of the baseball action, live on AM 1380, FM 102.5 and KCIIradio.com, beginning with the Jessica Yoder and Sarah Bigley with Lepic Kroeger Realtors Pregame Show at 7p.m. and first pitch at 7:30 in Iowa City.