By: Nathan Bloechl — sports@kilj.com
College Softball: Wesleyan Falls to Spalding, Ends Season in Conference Tournament:
The Iowa Wesleyan softball team saw their season come to a close — thus closing the book on the terrific Morgan Christner — falling 10-5 to Spalding in the SLIAC Conference Tournament yesterday night.
Christner was the losing pitcher for Wesleyan yielding 13 hits and five earned runs over her six innings in the circle.
Spalding came out of the gates hot scoring three times in the first and two more times in the second before Wesleyan tallied their first run in the top of the third.
The Tigers did try to rally in the fifth inning after Alex Eyman singled and drove in two runs Ashley Pfadenhauer, a Danville prepster, doubled and scored two of her in a four run inning which brought Wesleyan to within 9-5.
However Spalding went on to score one more in the sixth as they knocked the Tigers out.
Wesleyan closes their year with a record of 7-14.
College Softball: Consolation? Christner Named SLIAC Pitcher of the Year:
Despite the tough loss, Iowa Wesleyan’s Morgan Christner was once again named SLIAC Pitcher of the Year.
This is her second consecutive year with that honor.
This season, Christner led the SLIAC in earned run average, total number of strikeouts and strikeouts per game.
A future Wesleyan Hall of Famer, Christner is No. 1 in Wesleyan softball history in punchouts per game and is No. 7 on the career ERA list.
Not to be outdone, senior outfielder Kayla Ford was named second team All-SLIAC.
The dynamic Ford, a native of Washington, Illinois registered 12 hits in 35 at-bats for the Tigers. Three of those hits were doubles, one a triple, and one a home run.
She also hauled in five runs batted in while walking five times all while being hit by a pitch once.
Another future Wesleyan Hall of Famer, Ford is currently No. 8 all-time on the career batting average list hitting nearly .370 in her time with the Tigers.
College Track: Hunter Davis Named Head Coach at Wesleyan:
Iowa Wesleyan University has made Hunter Davis the next head coach of Tiger track and field and cross country.
Davis came to Iowa Wesleyan in the Fall of 2019 as a graduate assistant and was quickly elevated to interim head coach in November 2019 until January 2020 and again acted as the interim head coach from November 2020 until now when he took over for Chris Pio.
This spring, under the tutelage of Davis, Allison Morris earned a top-ten performance at the SLIAC Cross Country Conference Championships, which earned her 1st-Team All-Conference honors.
The Tigers took 3rd and 5th place at the SLIAC Indoor Championships under Coach Davis’ lead and took all-conference honors for men’s shot put, men’s distance medley, men’s 60-meter hurdles, men’s triple jump, women’s triple jump, and the women’s distance medley.
A native of Spirit Lake, Iowa, Davis earned a master’s degree in management leadership with a concentration in athletic administration.
He completed his bachelor’s degree in mass communications with a minor in sports management from Morningside College in Sioux City, Iowa.
College Basketball: Iowa State Adds PSU Transfer:
(Via Radio Iowa)
Iowa State basketball coach T.J. Otzelberger has announced the addition of Penn State transfer Izaiah Brockington.
Brockington is a 6-4 guard out of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, who spent the last three seasons at Penn State after playing as a freshman at St. Bonaventure. He has two seasons of eligibility remaining.
Brockington saw action in all 25 games for the Nittany Lions during the 2020-21 season, making 24 starts and finishing second on the team at 12.6 points per game.
He led the team shooting 84.1 percent at the free-throw line, pulled down 4.9 rebounds and dished out 1.7 assists per game.