Author: Nathan Bloechl

By: Nathan Bloechl — sports@kilj.com 

Prep Baseball: Mediapolis Rolls Van Buren, Danville Escapes:

Mediapolis 11, Van Buren County 5 

Mediapolis scored seven runs in the 5th inning, as the Bulldogs rolled to an 11-5 win over Van Buren County last night.

The win propelled Mediapolis to 12-6.

Aidan Danz had three hits including double, while Jaxon Brooks provided a spark with two hits.

Lance Ludens was the winning pitcher, working three solid frames of relief from Rick Whitaker’s bullpen.

Danville 5, Louisa-Muscatine 4 

Danville scored the go-ahead run in the 7th inning as the Bears took a Super Conference crossover against Louisa-Muscatine 5-4 last night.

Klayton Kleinkopf and Ethan Unzicker each had two hits.

Grifen Molle, a state medalist in wrestling, was the winning pitcher, hurling six innings while striking out six.

Other finals:

Pekin 13, West Burlington 2 

Prep Baseball: Postseason Assignments Released in Class 1A, 2A:

Postseason assignments for Class 1A have been released for the upcoming baseball playoffs and area teams will compete in Region 6 and 9.

Region 6 will feature:

• Columbus Community
• English Valleys, North English
• Highland, Riverside
• Hillcrest Academy
• Lisbon
• Lone Tree
• North Cedar, Stanwood
• Wapello

Region f9 comprises:

• Danville
• Keota
• Moravia
• Moulton-Udell
• New London
• Notre Dame, Burlington
• Sigourney
• Tri-County, Thornburg
• Winfield-Mt. Union

Prep Softball: Winfield Wins Thriller, Wapello Crushes New London:

No. 15 Winfield-Mount Union 2, Holy Trinity 1

Madie Anderson worked a complete game one hitter as Winfield-Mount Union squeaked by Holy Trinity 2-1 last night.

Anderson struck out 18 hitters on the night.

Anna Anderson had two hits to lead the offense.

Winfield improved to 13-3.

Wapello 13, New London 2 

Wapello scored early and often as the Arrows rolled to a 13-2 win over New London last night.

The Tigers mustered just four hits on the evening.

Elly Manning was the losing pitcher, striking out one over 5.1 innings.

New London fell to 4-18.

Wapello improved to 12-5.

Other area results:

Van Buren County 13, Mediapolis 1 

West Burlington 9, Pekin 1 

Louisa-Muscatine 10, Danville 0 

Central Lee 8, Hillcrest Academy 1 

College Football: Iowa State Lands Four on Preseason All-American List:

Four Cyclones have been named to the Walter Camp Preseason All-America team, the award announced.

This year, Iowa State saw tight end Charlie Kolar, running back Breece Hall and linebacker Mike Rose as first-team selections.

Center Colin Newell was a second-team choice.

Iowa center and former Solon standout Tyler Linderbaum was a first-team selection, as well.

By: Nathan Bloechl — sports@kilj.com 

No. 15 Winfield-Mount Union 9, Pekin 1 

Winfield-Mount Union senior Madie Anderson eclipsed 1,000 career strikeouts as the Lady Wolves raced to a 9-1 win over Pekin last night.

Anderson allowed a single hit and one walk, while striking out 14 hitters.

Her 1,000th punch-out came in the second inning.

Kayreana Sharar had three hits, including a home run while scoring four runs.

Anna Anderson tripled and drove home two for Winfield-Mount Union.

The Lady Wolves improved to 12-3.

Washington 11, Mount Pleasant 1

Washington 18, Mount Pleasant 2

Washington outscored Mount Pleasant 29-3 over two games, as the Demons swept Mount Pleasant in a conference doubleheader last night.

In game one, Madison Helling was the losing pitcher.

Savana Walls, Grace Kelley and Ella McNamee each had hits.

Kelley drove in the teams’ lone run.

In game two, Jersey Beachy had two hits and a run scored but it was not enough as Washington took down Mount Pleasant 18-2.

Kelley had a hit and run batted in the nightcap.

Helling took the loss again in game two.

Mount Pleasant fell to 1-21.

Central Lee 11, New London 5 

Central Lee jumped out to a 5-0 lead after two innings and added five insurance runs in the 7th as the Hawks earned a 11-5 win over New London.

Natalie Burden had four hits to lead the Tigers.

Marah Hartrick, Elly Manning and Sophie Malott had two hits apiece.

Manning took the loss for the Tigers.

Shanna Buford had a triple and a pair of doubles to pace the Central Lee offense.

New London slipped to 4-17.

Danville 6, Holy Trinity 5

Wapello 12, Van Buren County 2 

Louisa-Muscatine 8, Highland 2

Columbus 17, Mediapolis 5 (Game One)

Columbus 9, Mediapolis 5 (Game Two)

By: Nathan Bloechl — sports@kilj.com 

Washington 23, Mount Pleasant 8 (Game One) 

Washington 21, Mount Pleasant 10 (Game Two)

The Mount Pleasant baseball team took two on the chin yesterday to conference foe Washington, losing 23-8 and 21-10.

Will Edeker was game one’s losing pitcher, hurling 2.2 innings allowing 13 earned runs on 14 hits while striking out three.

Jack Johnson was 2-for-3 at the plate with a triple and two RBI.

Colten Hutson and Dalton Gardner both drove in two.

In game two, Jack Johnson allowed nine earned runs over 3.1 innings as the Panthers as Washington exploded for another 20 run game.

Sawyer Carrasco led the Mount Pleasant offense with two hits and two RBI.

Colton Hutson drove in two as well.

Lincoln Henriksen doubled.

Mount Pleasant stumbled to 2-13.

New London 9, Central Lee 1 

New London stayed unbeaten as they scored in every inning but one, rolling to a 9-1 win over Central Lee last night.

Josh Catala had two hits, a run scored and run batted in, while striking out seven and earning the win on the hill.

Carter Allen homered for New London, as the Tigers improved to 14-0.

Mediapolis 21, Columbus 0 

Ryan Ensminger tossed a four-inning no-hitter as Mediapolis rolled Columbus 21-0 last night.

Ensminger allowed just one base on balls while striking out seven.

Jaxon Brooks was a double shy of the cycle, homering and adding a single and a triple. He drove in seven runs.

Lance Ludens had two runs batted in for Mediapolis, who improved to 11-6.

Pekin 17, Winfield-Mount Union 0 

Highland 5, Louisa-Muscatine 4 

Van Buren County 14, Wapello 2 

Cardinal 11, Burlington Notre Dame 1

By: Nathan Bloechl — sports@kilj.com 

KILJ — The latest IGHSAU softball rankings have been released:

Class 1A
School Record LW
1 Newell-Fonda 20-1 1
2 Collins-Maxwell 11-0 3
3 Southeast Warren 15-0 4
4 Lisbon 18-4 2
5 Lynnville-Sully 14-4 5
6 Wayne 10-4 6
7 Akron-Westfield 15-1 7
8 Martensdale-St. Mary’s 10-4 10
9 Mason City Newman 16-5 7
10 Sigourney 12-6 9
11 Exira-EHK 16-3 12
12 Clarksville 10-4 11
13 Lenox 16-3 14
14 Remsen St. Mary’s 15-2 NR
15 Winfield-Mount Union 11-3 15
Dropped Out: Grand View Christian (13)

Class 2A
School Record LW
1 North Linn 21-1 3
2 Wilton 13-3 1
3 Louisa-Muscatine 10-7 2
4 North Union 15-1 9
5 Waterloo Columbus Catholic 14-1 10
6 Central Springs 15-4 4
7 Underwood 13-1 5
8 Van Meter 17-6 7
9 Earlham 17-5 6
10 West Monona 17-2 12
11 Interstate-35 12-4 15
12 Alburnett 17-7 14
13 Van Buren County 15-3 NR
14 Mount Ayr 8-9 8
15 Northeast 8-9 13
Dropped Out: Ridge View (11)

Class 3A
School Record LW
1 Davenport Assumption 17-1 1
2 Mount Vernon 16-2 2
3 Williamsburg 14-6 3
4 West Burlington/Notre Dame 20-1 4
5 Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont 20-2 5
6 Anamosa 18-3 6
7 Atlantic 18-3 7
8 Solon 18-5 10
9 West Liberty 11-5 9
10 Sioux Center 15-3 8
11 Sheldon 12-1 13
12 Roland-Story 12-4 11
13 Albia 10-4 12
14 Bishop Heelan 16-4 15
15 Crestwood 12-4 NR
Dropped Out: Spirit Lake (14)

Class 4A
School Record LW
1 Winterset 17-4 1
2 Carlisle 15-6 4
3 ADM 14-4 3
4 Norwalk 14-6 6
5 Dallas Center-Grimes 13-9 2
6 Western Dubuque 16-2 8
7 Boone 15-5 7
8 Ballard 13-7 11
9 Clear Creek-Amana 18-3 13
10 Fairfield 10-8 5
11 Marion 17-5 12
12 West Delaware 12-5 10
13 North Scott 11-9 9
14 Benton 9-6 14
15 Charles City 14-4 15
Dropped Out: None

Class 5A
School Record LW
1 Fort Dodge 17-3 2
2 Muscatine 15-2 1
3 Johnston 19-4 5
4 Waukee 14-3 3
5 Indianola 22-3 6
6 Cedar Rapids Kennedy 14-4 4
7 Iowa City High 13-5 7
8 Pleasant Valley 13-5 10
9 Iowa City Liberty 16-5 8
10 West Des Moines Valley 14-9 9
11 Ankeny Centennial 15-4 11
12 Southeast Polk 11-9 12
13 Ankeny 11-6 13
14 Cedar Rapids Prairie 16-6 NR
15 Davenport North 11-9 NR
Dropped Out: Dubuque Hempstead (14), Bettendorf (15)

By: Nathan Bloechl — sports@kilj.com 

Mount Pleasant — Iowa Wesleyan Director of Athletics Derek Zander caught up with Nathan Bloechl yesterday on Beyond the Game saying Wesleyan officials are excited about the prospects of making the jump back to NAIA starting this fall.

However, with that — Zander believes the expectations to win become a little bit more intense.

“I think we have been building to that over the last couple of years” Zander explained.

“I think the transition to the NAIA further magnifies that importance of being successful. I think our coaches feel it. I think we have been able to increase our success in Division III.”

Zander has taken the right steps to creating a winning culture, hiring energetic coaches M.D. Daniels, Steve Williamson and Hunter Davis in just the last calendar year.

“We have some good coaches that have already embraced what we’re doing here. Here in the near future, we are going to make the switch of not just being average anymore but taking that next step forward.” 

Iowa Wesleyan’s first fall competition will be Saturday, August 28th when Saint Ambrose hosts the Tiger football team.

To hear the full interview with Zander you can listen here:

By: Nathan Bloechl — sports@kilj.com 

New London 20, Winfield-Mount Union 0 

New London 13, Iowa City Regina 3 

New London stayed perfect with a pair of wins yesterday at home, beating Winfield-Mount Union 20-0, then defeating Iowa City Regina 13-3.

Against the Wolves, New London scored 16 runs in the 2nd inning cruising to the victory. Carter Allen and Kooper Schulte each had two hits — Schulte’s were home runs — he drove in seven runs.

Camden Kasel and Ryan Richey also drove in two runs.

Drew Benz was the winning pitcher, working four inning allowing five hits and a walk while striking out three.

In the nightcap against Regina, the Tigers scored 13 consecutive runs after trailing 3-0 in a 13-3 winner.

New London pulled away with seven runs in the 5th inning and four runs in the 6th.

Kooper Schulte and Camden Kasel had three hits apiece, while Hecniel Rodriguez drove in three runs.

Seth Bailey went the distance for the Tigers, scattering seven hits and two walks, while striking out six hitters.

New London improved to a perfect 13-0.

Danville 14, Lone Tree 11

Klayton Kleinkopf had a three hit evening, while Cam Edle and Sawyer Nelson each drove in two runs as Danville slugged their way to a 14-11 win over Lone Tree last night.

Edle had two hits on his ledger, as well.

The win moved Danville to 4-7.

Lone Tree evened up at 7-7.

West Burlington 4, Louisa-Muscatine 3 

Van Buren County 4, Highland 3