Sports, Tuesday, July 21st

By: Nathan Bloechl — sports@kilj.com 

Mount Pleasant Fights, Falls to Assumption:

The Mount Pleasant baseball team rallied from down 4-0 to tie the game in the 4th inning before allowing top-ranked Davenport Assumption to score the game’s next five runs as the Knights held on for a 9-5 win in a Class 3A-Substate 5 semifinal victory last night at Modern Woodmen Park.

The Panthers stranded six base-runners through the first three innings, but finally cashed in in the fourth inning after Assumption starter Keegan Shovlain walked the bases loaded and committed a costly error on a Chase Williamson bunt single.

One batter later, senior Rylan Seberg ripped a two-run double to bring the game to 4-3, then Nik Coble had a RBI ground-out which brought the game to level terms.

Assumption, however, responded late in the 5th when senior catch Seth Adrian laced a line drive double to the center-field fence scoring one. It was a part of a two-hit, two-RBI night for the Assumption catcher.

The Knights tallied three in the 5th and two in the 6th to take a 9-4 lead.

Noah Mack allowed one run in the 7th, but Mount Pleasant left the tying run on deck as Mack induced a Chase Williamson pop-up to end the game.

Jaxon Hoyle got the start for the Panthers working two innings allowing four runs — three earned — on just two hits while striking out one.

Corbin Broeker took the loss allowing one run on two hits over two innings.

The Panthers close their season with a record of 15-7.

Assumption, now 20-4, will take on Clear Creek-Amana who took down Solon 8- 7 last night.

New London Softball Falls to #4 Hawks:

The #4 Lynnville-Sully Hawks got seven shutout innings from Denali Conover as they cruised into the Class 1A State Softball tournament with a 5-0 win over the New London Tiger softball team last night.

Conover yielded just three New London hits, all singles by Elly Manning, Layney Loyd and Sofie Reighard as the Tigers fell just one game short of heading back to the State Softball tournament for the first time since 2018.

Freshman Elly Manning took the loss for New London allowing the five runs and scattering ten hits.

Manning kept Lynville-Sully off balance for the better part of the game, before the fourth-ranked Hawks added two insurance runs in the sixth inning.

New London ends their season with a record of 9-7, while Lynville-Sully improved to 18-2.

They’ll be apart of the talented Class 1A State Softball field in Fort Dodge, Iowa.

Other area softball last night:

  • #2 Louisa-Muscatine 5, #13 Wilton 2
    • The Falcons are back to the State Softball Tournament —-this time in Class 2A after being crowned 3A’s runner-up a year ago. They’ll take on #7 Underwood on July 28th in a state quarterfinal match-up at Rogers Sports Complex in Fort Dodge.

Central Lee Baseball Hoping to Clinch Back-to-Back State Berths, Tango with Mid-Prairie:

The 12-1 Central Lee baseball team is on the precipice of greatness tonight when they take on the sixth-ranked Mid-Prairie Golden Hawks for a chance to head to the Class 2A State Baseball tournament.

Mid-Prairie, 14-3 on the year, picked up a come-from-behind 7-5 victory over West Liberty to clinch their trip to Mediapolis tonight.

Central Lee earned a 9-6 win over Van Buren County in the first round before squeaking by Mediapolis by a score of 2-1.

The Hawks are led by senior Jadon Hawk who finished this season with a .429 batting average, five doubles, one homer and a team-best 16 runs batted in.

Senior Luke Simmons finished with 12 runs batted in, two doubles and a .441 average to lead the group.

Hawk has also been the ace of the staff for Central Lee — the senior right-hander finished 4-0 this season in 22.2 innings pitched with 32 punch-outs.

Tonight’s game can be heard on KILJ-FM 105.5 and online at kilj.com.

First pitch from Mediapolis High School is set for 7:00 p.m.

Other contests tonight will see:

  • North Cedar (7-7) will take on the 13-2 Burlington Notre Dame Nikes (RV) in a Class 1A-Substate 4 Championship. Notre Dame held on for a thrilling 6-4 victory over New London on Saturday as they play for a chance to head to the Class 1A State Baseball tournament. Tonight will be the first match-up all-time between the two schools. The Nikes boast one of the area’s top lineups, hitting .403 as team this year. They’re led by senior Drew Chiprez, who has a .548 batting average to go along with seven doubles, one triple and seven home runs. He’s driven in 24 this year, as well. Right-hander Mitchell Brent and fellow senior Jeron Conner have been lights out for Notre Dame on the bump. Brent leads the team with 23.1 innings pitched and 38 strikeouts, while Conner has pitched 16 innings of 2.19 ERA ball, with 25 K’s. Tonight’s game will be played in Solon at 7:00 p.m.