Southeast Iowa- Classes 1A and 2A for baseball and Classes 3A through 5A for softball with district champions decided and the winners from last night’s contests one game closer to the state tournament. Here’s how all of our local teams fared.

Softball

Class 3A

Region 8 saw two close games with West Burlington taking on Assumption and Washington hosting Central Lee. The Falcons gained a 3 to 1 lead in the top of the 4^th inning, but the Knights jumped for four runs in the bottom half of the frame and never gave up the lead to win 6-3.

West Burlington finished the season with a 25-9 record.

The bottom half of the bracket saw Washington appear to break the game open with a two-RBI double by Alivia Anderson gave the Demons a 4 to 1 lead at the end of the 5^th inning. The 7^th inning rolled around, and the Demons only needed three outs.

The Hawks had other plans, striking for four runs to take a 5 to 4 lead into the bottom of the 7^th inning. The Demons proceeded to load the bases with only one out in the inning; unfortunately for Washington two flyouts couldn’t score the tying run, ending their season in upset fashion. Washington finished the season with a 24-12 record.

Central Lee will look for another road victory against Assumption in the Regional Championship on Tuesday, July 16^th, at 7 pm.

Class 4A

Fort Madison put up 18 runs in their first-round matchup in region 5 against Keokuk, but were unable to manage a run against Xavier, losing 6-0. The Bloodhounds ended the season with a 14-19 record.

In region 8, Burlington handled Central DeWitt with ease, winning 6-1. The Grayhounds will take on North Scott on the road on Tuesday at 7 pm for the Regional Championship.

Baseball

Class 1A

For the second year in a row, Burlington Notre Dame took on Moravia for the district championship. The Nikes’ Jaxon Sadler and the Mohawks’ Wyatt Throckmorton was the ultimate set up for a pitchers duel similar to a season ago.

The Nikes proceeded to score 10 runs and ended the game in the 5^th inning with a shutout performance on the mound by Sadler and Payne Prottsman. A Lucas Johnson RBI double in the second inning got the scoring going for the Nikes, but the fourth inning was when disaster happened for Moravia.

The Nikes started the inning with a Spencer Brent single, then the Mohawks, almost as if the ghosts of yesteryear took over the defense, erred on three separate occasions in the inning, prolonging the inning. This set up Logan Brent for a three-run moonshot to left field, giving the Nikes a 7 to 0 lead.

An Isaiah Crow two-RBI single capped off an eight-run inning to lead 9 to 0. Back-to-back, one-two-three innings defensively set up a Spencer Brent lead off double in the fifth inning to present an early exit for Moravia. the conjunction with the rest of the game, it was an error that scored Brent and ended the game.

Head coach Chris Chiprez and the Nikes were plenty excited after the dominant victory,

“We’re feeling pretty good, actually. You know, we thought that we were in for a dog fight, and we were the first couple innings, you know, I mean, Moravia is well coached, they’re a good team. They got some great players and then you throw at Throckmorton out there on the mound. He’s one of the best pitchers in the state. So, for us, for our guys to battle and like I said, Logan Brent, that was a huge, I think, a momentum swing in, in the game, you know, and then, you know, we capitalized on some mistakes you know, and I was proud of the bottom half of our lineup. I thought Logan had a clutch home run there and then I thought Lucas Johnson hit the ball really well as well.”

Not only were the bats hot, Sadler and Prottsman turned in quality innings and more importantly kept their pitch count down,

“It was really huge, you know, we talked about that, you know, we talked about our offense, you know, over the last couple days., ‘OK, we need to put pressure on them.’ We need to get some runs so we can save our pitching for Tuesday if we survive that. You know? So, it was. It was huge. We didn’t have to use Caden Schwekner, which was also huge. And we limited Payne Prottsman to, not many pitches. So, it’s it worked out to our advantage.”

Fairfield will be the host sight for the Class 1A Substate 6 championship game against Burlington Notre Dame and Sigourney as defeated BGM 6-1 with Isaac Burns notching three RBIs on a double. KILJ 105.5 FM, kilj.com, will be on the call.

Class 2A

After several stellar pitching performances in their Substate 5 District 10 postseason journey, Mediapolis finally met their match with Anamosa, as the Blue Raiders scored four runs in the first two innings.

Nevertheless, the Bulldogs did not give up scoring a run in the 5^th, 6^th, and 7^th innings to tie the game. Ultimately, Anamosa won on a walk off, defeating Mediapolis 6-4.

The Bulldogs finished the season with a 21-7 record.

High School Postseason Baseball

In Class 3A Substate 5, Mt. Pleasant and Fort Madison engaged in a pitching duel that Ben Newton and the Panthers came out on top of, 4-2, to advance to the semifinals. The Panthers trailed 1 to 0 in the bottom of the fourth inning when Payson Coleman laced one to the left-center gap with the bases loaded to notch two RBIs and take the lead. The Bloodhounds responded with some aggressive base running in the top of the fifth to tie the game at two. 

A controversial call in the fifth inning prolonged the offense for the Panthers, leading to a go-ahead RBI single for Payton Hagans. The Panthers added an insurance run in the sixth inning on a passed ball and Ben Newton closed out his complete game effort in the top of the 7th, allowing two runs on nine hits and striking out five. Head coach Brent Broeker talked about his team’s effort after the game,

“It’s playoff baseball, you know, and you hope for the game where you win 10 one or 11 or whatever. But you know, it’s playing baseball and games tend to be tight and this was one of them. Fort Mason came right to play. They threw the kid (Hunter Cresswell) who pretty much shoved it on us last time we played him, so you know he did another great job, Cresswell kid. And so, I thought our boys did good battling with him. We put up just as many runs as we did last time against him. But this time at least we held him down instead of five we held them down to two.”

Fort Madison ended the season with an 11-21 record. 

Washington fell to Central DeWitt last night 10-2. The Demons finished the season with a 5-21 record. 

Mt. Pleasant will make the trip to Central DeWitt on Monday, July 15th, at 7 pm. KILJ 105.5 FM, kilj.com, will be on the call with the pregame show at 6:45 pm. 

Fairfield slammed Keokuk last night 13-1. Aiden Westercamp slugged two doubles for a game high five RBIs in the win. The Chiefs ended the season with a 7-17 record.

Fairfield will face off against Assumption on Monday at 7 pm on the road.

In Class 4A Substate 8, Burlington lost to Davenport North last night 4-1. The Grayhounds finished the season with an 11-20 record. 

In Class 1A Substate 6, Burlington Notre Dame will host Moravia for the District 11 championship tonight at 7 pm. KILJ 105.5 FM, kilj.com, will be on the call with the pregame show at 6:45 pm. Head coach Chris Chiprez voiced his thoughts about the upcoming matchup,

“You know Moravia’s a good team. You know, in my opinion, they got one of the best pitchers in the state and one day, you know, Wyatt Throckmorton, you know, he’s a lefty. I don’t think he throws overly hard, but he locates his fastball well and he’s got a great change up off speed. They’re a scrappy team, you know, I think they’re hitting 0.367 as a team. I mean, we’re going to have to definitely play considerably better than we did tonight if we want to. We want to make it past the district final…”

BGM and Sigourney will play tonight at 7 pm for the District 12 championship. 

In Class 2A Substate 5, Mediapolis will travel to Anamosa tonight at 7 pm. 

High School Postseason Softball

For Class 1A Region 6, Holy Trinity Catholic fell to Twin Cedars last night 12-0. The Crusaders finished the season with an 8-12 record. 

In Class 1A Region 8, Wapello shut down HLV last night 6-0. The Arrows will take on Sigourney on Monday, July 15th, at 7 pm on the road. 

Class 3A Region 8, West Burlington will travel to Assumption tonight with first pitch at 7 pm. 

Washington will host Central Lee tonight at 7 pm with the winner advancing to the regional championship. 

In Class 4A Region 5, Fort Madison will compete in the regional semifinal against Xavier tonight at 7 pm on the road. 

For Class 4A Region 8, Burlington will host Central DeWitt tonight at 7 pm with the winner advancing to the regional championship. 

High School Cross Country

Mt. Pleasant’s optional summer runs, available for 7th through 12th graders, are scheduled Monday through Thursday. The runs will often be led by upperclassmen as coaches may not be present for every run.

On Mondays and Wednesdays the runs will start at 6:30 am at the Old Threshers Museum Theatre and on Tuesdays and Thursdays they will be at Saunders Park by the swimming pool at 7 pm. 

If you have any questions, contact Coach Murray at 319-850-0867. 

Prospect League

The Burlington Bees got tagged for 15 runs last night by the Alton River Dragons, losing 15-5. Carson Bittner led the offense with a home run and two RBIs. The Bees will stay on the road tonight to take on the Springfield Lucky Horseshoes at 6:30 pm.

The Clinton LumberKings traded games with the Illinois Valley Pistol Shrimp last night, winning game one 4-1 and losing game two 9-3. Max Holy had a double and two RBIs in game two. The LumberKings will face off against the River Dragons tonight at home at 6:30 pm. 

This Day in Sports History

1919 – Boston Red Sox pitcher Carl Mays walks off the mound blaming teammates for lack of support in the field.

1972 – Los Angeles Rams (Irsay) and Baltimore Colts (Rosenbloom) swap owners.

2019 – After Atlantic League-MLB partnership rule changes, Southern Maryland Blue Crabs’ outfielder Tony Thomas becomes first player in professional baseball history to steal first base in a 7-2 win versus the Lancaster Barnstormers.