Photo Courtesy of Mid-Prairie Softball Social Media
The Mid-Prairie Golden Hawk softball team matched up with some of the best in the state across four games in two days at the Rick Doran Classic hosted by Iowa City West. Mid-Prairie started the weekend with a 2-0 win over Charles City Friday afternoon. In a full contest played in under an hour, the Hawks leaned on their pitching and defense. Sydney Knebel fired a complete game shut out, allowing just three hits, and no base runners past second. Mid-Prairie scored in the first when Sophie Miller came home on a passed ball, and in the fifth when Olivia Swartzentruber walked and sprinted home on a Dakota Mitchell RBI single.
The night cap on Friday saw the Hawks hang in with No. 2 in Class 5A Waukee Northwest before falling to the Wolves 6-2. The contest was scoreless until the fourth when Northwest put up a five spot. The Hawks bounced back with a pair in the fifth to climb within 5-2. The Wolves added another in the bottom of five to reach the final score. Knebel took the loss in the circle working five and a third, giving up 17 hits and six earned. Madeline Schrader had a two hit night that included a solo homer. Mitchell had a hit and an RBI.
Saturday started with Mid-Prairie taking on No. 10 in Class 4A North Scott. The Lancers beat the Hawks 10-6. North Scott scored once in the first and put together a six-run second to lead 7-0. The Golden Hawks got on the board with a run in the fourth when Knebel doubled in Miller. The Lancers added three insurance runs in the top of the seventh to lead 10-1 and it turned out they needed them when the Hawks turned on the offense in their last at bat. Mid-Prairie hit around in the seventh, scoring five times on six hits to pull within four before North Scott finally closed the door. Seven of the nine in the Mid-Prairie order had a hit, six of the nine scored. Mitchell, Schrader and Knebel had multi-hit games, Knebel drove in three, Brenna Jehle, Swartzentruber and Molly Yoder one each. Mitchell accounted for nine defensive puts outs in the game at short stop. Kadence Grout took the loss, throwing all seven with 10 earned runs on 12 hits.
The final contest of the weekend saw Mid-Prairie take on rival Williamsburg, the top ranked team in 3A, falling to the Raiders 7-1. Williamsburg kept pressure on the Golden Hawks all afternoon scoring one run on two hits in each of the first three innings to lead 3-0. They added three more in the fifth to go up 6-0. Mid-Prairie broke through in the sixth against Jersey Metz with a Knebel RBI single that scored Yoder. The game was highlighted by Knebel’s two hits and Yoder who reached in all three plate appearances and made a terrific diving catch in the right center field gap. Knebel worked all six in the circle, giving up 13 hits and five earned runs.
The Golden Hawks finish the regular season with a 16-20 record. They are back on the diamond Thursday when they travel to Center Point-Urbana for the first round of 3A regional play. You can hear all of the action on AM 1380, FM 102.5 and KCIIradio.com, beginning with the Jessica Yoder and Sarah Bigley with Lepic Kroeger Realtors Pregame Show at 6:30 and first pitch between the Hawks and Pointers at 7p.m.