Sports, July 3rd

High School Baseball

Mt. Pleasant will take on Bettendorf on the road on July 5th.  

High School Postseason Baseball

In Class 1A Substate 5: District 9, New London traveled to Highland and left with the upset defeating the Huskies 1-0 over the weekend. It was a pitchers duel for the entire game with Ethan Paisley notching over 100 strikeouts for the season and Brendan Richey making short work of the Highland offense. 

However, it would be a throwing error on a Tate Welcher infield single that would allow him to advance all the way to third base in the top of the 6th inning. Michael Raines, the courtesy runner, would take home base on a passed ball to give the Tigers the lead. Richey would find himself in a two-out bases loaded jam in the bottom of the 7th inning, but he would induce a pop out to end the game having pitched a complete game shutout striking out 4 batters. The Tigers will travel to take on the #1 seed Burlington Notre Dame on July 5th at 7 pm. KILJ will be on the call with pregame at 6:45 pm.

In District 10 for Class 1A, Danville fell to Sigourney 5-4 on Saturday. The Bears end the season with a 2-17 record. 

In Class 2A Substate 5: District 10, Winfield-Mt. Union handled Louisa-Muscatine 11-3. Cole Milks led the Wolves with a powerful home run and 4 RBIs as Andrew Brown picked up the complete game win, fanning three Falcons. The Wolves will travel to take on the #1 seed Van Buren County on July 5th at 7 pm. 

Central Lee and West Burlington’s matchup was suspended in the bottom of the 7th with the game tied at 5 and it has been rescheduled to tonight at 7 pm.

Mediapolis will take on either the Hawks or the Falcons. Their second round matchup will take place on July 5th at 5 pm. 

In Class 3A Substate 4, Washington will take on the #2 seed Davenport Assumption at 5 pm.

In Class 3A Substate 5, we will see a Southeast Conference matchup to start off the playoffs with Mt. Pleasant hosting Fairfield at 7 pm. 

Fort Madison will travel to take on Benton and Keokuk is on the road to face off against Cedar Rapids Xavier with both games taking place at 7 pm.

Class 4A will have 8 substates and brackets of 6 teams. Each team will have an opponent for the first round with the highest winning seed getting a bye to the next round. Burlington will take on North Scott in Substate 6 as the #4 seed.

The first round for Class 3A and 4A will take place on July 7th.

High School Softball

Mt. Pleasant split their two games at the Rick Doran Classic over the weekend defeating Davenport Central 6-5 and falling to Iowa City West 7-2. In the win, Jolynn Martin got it down in the circle, picking up the win, and at the plate, notching two hits and 2 RBIs. Addison Clark added another 2 RBIs. 

In the loss, Ella McNamee and Clark each tallied an RBI with Kynlee White collecting 4 hits over the weekend.

High School Postseason Softball

In Class 1A Region 8, Holy Trinity Catholic will face off against Sigourney on July 5th at 7 pm. 

Wapello will take on Highland on July 5th. 

In Class 2A Region 7, Van Buren County will compete against Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont on July 5th at 7 pm at home.

In Class 2A Region 8, Mediapolis will take on Louisa-Muscatine on July 5th. 

Central Lee and Washington will square off on July 6th at Washington and West Burlington will host Fairfield on July 6th with both games taking place at 7 pm for Class 3A Region 8.

In Class 4A Region 6, Mt. Pleasant and Keokuk will compete in a conference matchup at Joyce Park on July 6th at 7 pm. Knoxville will host Fort Madison with the winner taking on Burlington at Burlington.

Mt. Pleasant Cross Country

On Mondays and Wednesdays, runs will begin at the Old Threshers Museum Theatre at 6:30 am.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays, runs will start at 7 pm at Saunders Park by the swimming pool.

The runs will continue throughout the summer until the middle of August. If you have any questions, reach out to Coach Murray at 319-850-0867.

Prospect League

The Burlington Bees lost both of their matchups over the weekend to fall to 10-17 on the season. On Saturday, the Jackson Rockabillys pushed across the game winning run in the 11th inning to win 4-3. Tanner Holland collected all 3 RBIs in the loss. 

The Gems handled the Bees 9-3 last night. Keanu Spenser, Coy Sarsfield, and Cedric Dunnwald each tallied an RBI in the losing effort. The Bees will host the LumberKings tonight. 

The Clinton LumberKings were swept by the Illinois Valley Pistol Shrimp over the weekend 11-2 on Saturday and 9-3 yesterday. Brock Wolin and Nick Meyer finished with 1 RBI apiece in game one. 

This Day in Sports History

1931 – German boxer Max Schmeling beats American Young Stribling by TKO in 15 rounds in Cleveland in his first heavyweight title defense; first major fight broadcast live on national radio.

1966 – Atlanta Braves Tony Cloninger, is the first NL player and only pitcher to hit 2 grand slams in a MLB game (17-3 v SF Giants).

1983 – Texas Rangers explode for an MLB single extra innings record 12 runs in the 15th inning of 16-4 win versus Oakland.

Henry County Heritage Trust Receives IW Archives

Henry County Heritage Trust was selected to receive the majority of Iowa Wesleyan University archives, housed in the Chadwick Library. Books, boxes, and artifacts were packed up on June 27th and 28th, and moved to the Heritage Center Museum, where a soon-to-be renovated room was waiting.

If you would like to assist HCHT with this exciting opportunity, please send your donation to: HCHT, PO Box 333, Mount Pleasant, IA 52641. A gift receipt will be returned for tax purposes.

New London Structure Fire

There was a structure fire in New London on July 2nd. Henry County Sheriff’s Office, New London Police Department, Henry County Health Center, Mount Pleasant Fire and Rescue, New London Fire Department, and DMCO responded. West Burlington Fire also were called to assist.

“Approximately 1240 am, West Burlington Fire was requested to assist New London Fire with a structure fire in downtown New London. 10 West Burlington Fire members responded to assist.” KILJ will have more details on this as they are released.

July 3rd, 2023 – July 9th, 2023

07/03/23
Hob Dickey - 75 - belated from Sunday
07/03/23
Ron Claus
07/03/23
Tyler Brown
07/03/23
Linda Heise
07/03/23
Brooke Johnson
07/03/23
Julie leichty
07/03/23
Anna Margaret Sefton
07/04/23
Gail Davis
07/04/23
Gage Goody
07/04/23
Ryker Burden
07/04/23
Michael Hampton
07/04/23
Alex Hickenbottom
07/05/23
Sara Weschler
07/05/23
Erin Housh
07/05/23
Luis and Chelle Rosell - Anniversary
07/06/23
Kylee Adams (19)
07/06/23
Rhonda Gholson
07/06/23
Esther Wonderlich
07/06/23
Megan Thompson
07/06/23
Bruce Hudson
07/06/23
Alli Humphreys - 18th
07/07/23
Sara Davidson
07/07/23
Laura Melzer
07/07/23
Ron Osborne
07/08/23
Les Roth
07/08/23
Grant Goody
07/08/23
Mary Ann Hoover-Smith
07/08/23
Penelope Burns
07/08/23
Grant Goody
07/08/23
Gretchen Liechty
07/08/23
Joyce Miller
07/08/23
Sarah Wilson
07/08/23
Barb Reschly
07/08/23
Chris McCormick
07/08/23
Kadie & Evan Johannson
07/09/23
Fonda Arbogast (80)
07/09/23
John Klopfenstein II
07/09/23
Gannon McNamee
07/09/23
Connie Pedersen
07/09/23
Natalie McDowell

Sports, July 1st

High School Baseball

Mt. Pleasant will take on Davenport Central at home today. 

High School Postseason Baseball

In Class 1A Substate 5: District 9, New London will face off against Highland in the opening round with the first pitch taking place at 7 pm tonight at Highland. KILJ will be on the call with pregame at 6:45 pm. Burlington Notre Dame enters as the #1 seed and will take on the winner of New London and Highland on July 5th. 

In District 10 for Class 1A, Danville will face off against Sigourney today on the road. 

Shifting our attention to Class 2A, our local teams will be beating up one another to see who makes it out of Substate 5: District 10. Winfield-Mt. Union will take on Louisa-Muscatine at 5 pm and Central Lee will face off against West Burlington at 7 pm with both games taking place tonight.

Van Buren County garnered the top seed and a first round bye. The Warriors will compete against the winner of Winfield-Mt. Union and Louisa-Muscatine. Mediapolis also earned a bye and will take on either the Hawks or the Falcons. The second round will be played on July 5th.

In Class 3A Substate 4, Washington will take on the #2 seed Davenport Assumption at 5 pm.

In Class 3A Substate 5, we will see a Southeast Conference matchup to start off the playoffs with Mt. Pleasant hosting Fairfield at 7 pm. 

Fort Madison will travel to take on Benton and Keokuk is on the road to face off against Cedar Rapids Xavier with both games taking place at 7 pm.

Class 4A will have 8 substates and brackets of 6 teams. Each team will have an opponent for the first round with the highest winning seed getting a bye to the substate final. Burlington will take on North Scott in Substate 6 as the #4 seed.

The first round for Class 3A and 4A will take place on July 7th.

High School Softball

Mt. Pleasant will compete in the Rick Doran Classic today.

High School Postseason Softball

In Class 1A Region 8, Holy Trinity Catholic took down New London last night 10-5 in the opening round of the postseason. New London looked ready to pull off the upset as Sophie Malott started the scoring with an RBI double in the top of the 1st inning. However, Mary Hellige would respond with an RBI single in the second half of the inning to tie the game at 1. 

The Crusaders would then go on to score three in the 2nd inning behind a 2 RBI triple by Halie Cain and an RBI single by Kayla Box. Another two runs in the 3rd inning with a 2 RBI double by Emmalyn Snaadt. Hellige added another RBI to her total in the 4th inning. Cain cracked another RBI triple in the 5th with Rachel Menke notching her own RBI single to give Holy Trinity Catholic a 10 to 1 lead. 

Camryn Lair and Kaitlyn Lee would cut the lead down to seven after picking up RBIs in the 6th inning. The Tigers would score two runs off of an error in the 7th inning to usher in the final. Hellige picked up her 11th win in the circle after striking out 2 batters in the complete game effort. Coach Menke tipped his hat to New London, but was excited about the win. The Crusaders will face off against Sigourney on July 5th at 7 pm. 

Wapello defeated Winfield-Mt. Union 12-2 last night. Ada Boysen tallied three RBIs and the win in the circle. The Wolves finish the season 4-15. The Arrows will take on Highland on July 5th. 

In Class 2A Region 7, Van Buren County will compete against Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont on July 5th at 7 pm at home.

In Class 2A Region 8, Danville fell to Durant last night 14-1. Mediapolis will take on Louisa-Muscatine on July 5th. 

Central Lee and Washington will square off on July 6th at Washington and West Burlington will host Fairfield on July 6th with both games taking place at 7 pm for Class 3A Region 8.

In Class 4A Region 6, Mt. Pleasant and Keokuk will compete in a conference matchup at Joyce Park on July 6th at 7 pm. Knoxville will host Fort Madison with the winner taking on Burlington at Burlington.

Mt. Pleasant Cross Country

On Mondays and Wednesdays, runs will begin at the Old Threshers Museum Theatre at 6:30 am.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays, runs will start at 7 pm at Saunders Park by the swimming pool.

The runs will continue throughout the summer until the middle of August. If you have any questions, reach out to Coach Murray at 319-850-0867.

Prospect League

The Burlington Bees had last night’s game slip out of their hands as they surrendered four runs to lose 9-8 to the Quincy Gems. Drew Gaskins led the Bees with 2 RBIs as he also tallied a double. Burlington will face off against the Jackson Rockabillys tonight. 

The Clinton LumberKings chopped down the Rockabillys last night 7-3. Alex Diaz and Connor Giusti each notched 2 RBIs in the winning effort. The LumberKings will take on the Illinois Valley Pistol Shrimp today. 

This Day in Sports History

1917 – In contravention of state law, Robins (Dodgers) play their 1st Sunday MLB game in Brooklyn; owner and manager arrested but escape with a fine; Robins edge Philadelphia, 3-2..

1982 – Cal Ripken Jr. makes the first of his record 2,216 consecutive MLB starts at shortstop for the Baltimore Orioles.

1998 – NBA commences a player lockout after no agreement with players about salary issues – lasts 204 days with the season shortened by 50 games.

Henry County Fair July 9th-17th!

The Henry County Fair will be taking place July 9th through the 17th. Their agenda is full of new and exciting things each day, such as mud volleyball, horse show, and the crowning of the Queen, Jr. Miss, and Princess. With all this excitement, visitors from other towns will be drawn into Mount Pleasant, so make sure to drive even more carefully with increased traffic.

If you do want to view some fun driving, the Demolition Derby is at 7pm on Saturday, July 15th at 7pm. An adult bags tournament will be held at noon on Sunday the 16th and an ATV Rodeo following at 1pm.

If you have a hobby and would like your project to be displayed at the fair, you have until July 13th to drop it off. This is an “open class” and open to all Henry County residents of all ages. Your project can be from a variety of different skills, such as photography, canning, baking, and so much more.

For a full Fair Schedule, head to KILJ.com where the unique schedule of events for each day is posted. The fair has a new website as well, at henrycountyfairiowa.com.

Holy Trinity Catholic and New London’s First Round Matchup Moved Up

West Point, IA– Holy Trinity Catholic softball plays the host tonight for their first round matchup against New London. Due to the weather, the game has been moved up to first pitch at 6 pm. KILJ will be on the call with pregame at 5:45 pm.

The Crusaders have defeated New London twice this season by a combined score of 25-0.