Postseason High School Baseball
In the Class 3A Substate 5 semifinals, errors spelled disaster for Mt. Pleasant last night, as the defensive miscues spotted #10 Assumption 10 first-inning runs in an eventual 13-0 final. Panther head coach Brent Broeker thought his team showed resiliency with Owen Dolf on the mound,
“Yeah, it’s one of those where you give a team like Assumption 13 runs in the first two innings, it’s gonna be tough to come back from. And after the game was over, I told the kids, our last two innings were fantastic. We gave up zero runs, and so we’re walking out of here on a positive note that we’re carrying two good innings into next year. So rather than not giving them any runs for two innings and then giving them 13 in the last two. So I thought our kids fought, we just couldn’t get anything going. They had the kid that was pitching, once they got a nine run lead, got real comfortable on the mound. So it caused us to struggle a little bit more.”
The Panthers finished the season with a 16-14 record and, for coach Broeker, a lot to look forward to from a young squad,
“Yeah, we’re not gonna be replacing too many guys next year. So it’ll be nice. We’ll have a returning roster and a couple holes to fill. But other than that, it was just up and down all year long. You watch us play Burlington and we’re up and then you watch us play these guys tonight and we’re down. So if we can get rid of that constant up and down thing, we could be a pretty solid team next year.”
In Class 3A Substate 6, Fort Madison was unable to keep their momentum going from their first-round upset and fell to Knoxville last night, 16-5. The Bloodhounds collected a 10-22 record.
For the Class 1A Substate 6 championship, Burlington Notre Dame will take on Lynnville-Sully tonight at 7 pm at the Ottumwa Sports Complex with the winner advancing to state.
In Class 2A Substate 4, Mediapolis will face off against Durant tonight at 7 pm at West Liberty High School for the Substate Championship. KILJ 105.5 FM, kilj.com, will be on the call with the pregame show at 6:45 pm.
Postseason High School Softball
In Class 3A Region 8, Fairfield will contend with West Liberty tonight at 7 pm for the Regional Championship on the road.
In Class 4A Region 5, #12 Burlington will travel to North Scott tonight at 7 pm for the Regional Championship.
Mt. Pleasant Cross Country
Summer runs are underway for the Mt. Pleasant Cross Country team. These runs are optional but a great way to run with others and get in shape for the fall season. The runs are available to anyone entering 7th through 12th grades. Coaches may not be present at every run, as they are often led by upperclassmen.
On Mondays, the runs will take place at 6:30 am at the Old Threshers Museum Theatre. Wednesdays will be high school speed day at 7 am at Mapleleaf and Tuesdays and Thursdays will take place at Saunders Park by the swimming pool at 7 pm.
The runs will continue through the middle of August until the Mt. Pleasant Cross County camp. If you have any questions, you can contact Coach Lyle Murray at 319-850-0867.
Local Athletic Camps
Mt. Pleasant will be hosting their volleyball camps starting in late July at the high school gym. The youth camp for grades 3rd through 6th will run from July 20th through the 22nd from 5:30 to 7 pm. The camp cutoff date is tomorrow, July 15th.
Here is the link to sign up for the camp: Youth Volleyball Camp Registration
The middle school camp for grades 7th and 8th and the high school camp for 9th through 12th graders will run August 3rd through the 5th with the middle school going from 4 to 5:30 pm and the high school to follow from 6 to 8 pm. The cutoff date is July 23rd.
Here is the link to sign up for the camp: Middle and High School Camp Registration
All camps will cost $30, cash, per person with the camper getting a t-shirt.
Prospect League
The Burlington Bees will face off against the Quincy Doggy Paddlers tonight at 6:30 pm on the road.
The Clinton LumberKings will travel to the Chillicothe Paints tomorrow, July 15th, at 6:05 pm.
New London native Kooper Schulte was selected by the New York Mets in the 20th round of the MLB draft. The former Hawkeye batted 0.268 with 25 RBIs this past season. Schulte was a member of the Bees in 2023 and 2025 where he batted 0.341 or better in both seasons, including a 20 extra base hit and 48 RBI campaign last year. Additionally, Owen Nowak was picked by the Houston Astros and Caleb Klein will be joining the Atlanta Braves, as they became the fourth, fifth, and sixth players drafted from the Bees since joining the Prospect League.
This Day in Sports History
1951 – CBS televises the first sporting event in color: the Molly Pitcher.
1974 – Billy Martin is the first AL manager to be ejected by an umpire from two games in one day.
1987 -The MLB Rookie of the Year Award is renamed to honor Jackie Robinson.