Photo Courtesy of Hillcrest Academy Yearbook
Ahead of a round of stormy weather battering southeast Iowa Tuesday, the Hillcrest Academy Raven softball team used their bats to do the same to Pekin pitching in a 13-9 win over the Panthers in Kalona. The two squads rode the see-saw through the first two innings with Pekin jumping up 3-0 after their first at-bat and the Ravens answering with five in the bottom half. The Panthers countered with three again in the top of two to lead 6-5 before Hillcrest put a handful more on the board to take the lead back at 10-6. Three more Raven runs in the third extended the lead to 13-6 and while Pekin would close to 13-9 after the fourth inning, it wasn’t enough to complete the comeback in the weather shortened affair.
The Panthers out hit Hillcrest 11-8, but the Ravens capitalized on 10 walks from Pekin pitching. Morgyn Nafziger had a big day at the plate, driving in three on a hit with a run scored. Claire Withrow had two RBI on two hits and scored three times. Kylee Statler, Malia Yoder, Adrianne Blauvelt, Lydia Beachy and Stavia Miller all had an RBI each. Beachy scored three times. Erin Bontrager had two hits and scored twice. Yoder was the winning pitcher, going four frames, giving up 10 hits, with seven earned runs and striking out three. On this week’s KCII PM Sports Page program, Raven head coach Kent Blossom talked about seeing the line-up come to life against the Panthers.
Blossom said, “Patience was the key for us at the plate. We were able to see good pitches and continue to have that firepower in the lineup one through nine. I’m excited to see our girls execute offensively and put these runs on the board. Morgyn (Nafziger) at the top of our lineup, drawing walks and getting a two-RBI hit, good things happen when we have her excelling at the plate. Erin (Bontrager) and Claire (Withrow) doing the job at the plate with runners in scoring position. It’s also exciting to see Lydia Beachy come back with an RBI hit as well and scoring three runs. It’s good to have those in the bottom of the order producing as well.”
The win pushed the Ravens to 12-12 and dropped Pekin to 4-21.