Hawks Score Big Win Over League Leader
East Greene picked up a big win at Panora 8-4 on Tuesday night, June 16, knocking the Panorama Panthers out of first place in the West Central Conference.
The Hawks have now won three straight and four of their last five, moving their season record to 6-3.
Not only did the win knock Panorama off the top of the league standings, but it moved the Hawks up from seventh place to fourth place, where they are tied with Van Meter at 4-2. Josh Neese and Jesse Luther each hit home runs to lead the Hawks at the plate. Tyler Cooklin held the Panthers in check, giving up 8 runs, 3 walks and striking out 3.
EG was up 8-0 and held off a surge by Panorama in the bottom of the seventh, with Brock Lyons coming in to relieve Cooklin after the Panthers had notched four runs. Lyons got the last out, striking out the batter with the bases loaded.
On Monday night, the Hawks took care of Glidden-Ralston 12-2 in a game shortened to six innings. Last week the Hawks beat Guthrie Center on Monday 11-4, fell to Coon Rapids-Bayard 5-1 on Tuesday but came back for a win over West Central Valley 9-2 on Thursday.
Against G-R, the Hawks pounded out 12 hits led by Cooklin going 3 for 4 with 2 singles, a double and 2 RBIs. Bradley Clark was 2 for 3 with a single and a double, and Neese went 3 for 4 with a double and 2 singles. Aaron Lyons had 3 RBIs off his single hit in two trips to the plate.
Wes Onken got the win for EG, giving up just 2 runs, 1 walk and striking out 8 Wildcat batters. The Hawks had a great night offensively and defensively with 8 stolen bases and just 1 error.
The West Central Valley game saw the Hawks pile up 13 hits, 10 stolen bases and no errors. Jesse Priest was 3 for 3 with 3 singles and 3 stolen bases. Onken got the win with Brock Lyons relieving him in the final inning.
West Central Conference Standings:
Earlham 5-1
Panorama 6-2
Des Moines Christian 6-2
East Greene 4-2
Van Meter 4-2
Madrid 5-3
Coon Rapids-Bayard 4-3
Glidden-Ralston 1-7
West Central Valley 1-6
Guthrie Center 0-8
SCOREBOARD
Wednesday, June 17:
DMC 3, MAD 2
Non-conference
CRB 10, Walnut 0
Carlisle 15, WCV 0
Martensdale-St. Mary’s 6, VM 3
Tuesday, June 16:
EG 8, PAN 4
WCV 12, GC 9
EAR 10, GR 0
CRB @ VM, ppd. to July 10
MAD @ DMC, ppd to Wed, June 17
Monday, June 15:
EG 12, GR 2
EAR 5, VM 2
CRB 9, WCV 0
DMC 6, PAN 4
MAD 5, GC 1
EYE ON GJ SAYS:
This is a big win for the Hawks and really tightens up the conference race. Any of the top seven teams in the league have a shot at the WC crown. Panorama, DMC and Madrid have a slight advantage at this juncture as they have played eight league games, while Earlham, EG and Van Meter have played just six. CRB may be 4-3 and in seventh place, but they’ve got a great baseball heritage, talented players and a veteran coach. Look for CRB to also shine in the post-season as they host both district and substate baseball tournaments.
EG is truly showing its mettle against the area “big schools.” West Central Valley, Panorama and Jefferson-Scranton are the three largest schools (all in Class 2A) on the Hawks’ baseball and Hawkettes’ softball schedules this season. Enrollment-wise, EG is the smallest of the 10 schools in the West Central, while non-conference foe J-S plays in various sports as either a 2A or 3A school. So far, the Hawks are 3-0 against these “Big Three,” downing J-S, West Central Valley and Panorama. The Hawkettes are 2-2, losing in league play to WCV and Panorama in Grand Junction, but beating Panorama down in Panora and downing J-S in a tournament in Ogden. Combined score: EG 5, BIG THREE 2. Small in numbers, but certainly not in heart and talent!
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Monday, June 8, 2009
FUN DAY!
All Day Fun from Lions' Breakfast to Parade to Street Dance, Beer Tent
The annual Grand Junction Fun Day will be Saturday, June 27, with a parade, Lion's Club pancake breakfast, the Peoples Trust and Savings Bank Triathalon, and water fights sponsored by GJ Fire Department.
Other events include bingo, family games sponsored by the GJ Public Library and Naked Ladies Garden Club, and ITC 3-on-3 basketball. All-day activities include miniature golf, food booths, craft vendors, and Kennedy's Museum.
The Stone Age Romeos band will perform at the street dance in the evening and the fire department will sponsor a beer tent.
For updates on Fun Day, check out the library's website, http://www.grandjunctionlibrary.com/.
EYE ON GJ SAYS: It looks to be a great weekend in GJ on June 26-28, as the Class of '64 will be back in town to celebrate its 45th Reunion. The '64 bunch was a standout class and was just the second class to graduate from EG after its merger with Rippey in 1962 to form the "complete EG" that we know today, as the Classes of '60, '61, and '62 were the EG kids of Grand Junction and Dana while Rippey's last three graduating classes were '60, '61 and '62. The Class of '63 was the first to graduate from EG after the Rippey-EG union.
Notables among the Class of '64 were longtime EG educators Jan (Carter) Scharingson and Buddy Fagen. Buddy was a standout athlete those years at EG as was B.J. (Barbara Jean) Carey, who was also crowned homecoming queen that fall of 1963, which was also the first year for EG football. Go Hawks! The football games in those first few years were played on a field mapped out on the Rippey ball park, with bleachers put up for the fans. The football field in Grand Junction, since renamed Karber Field after longtime school board member Dr. Melvin "Doc" Karber, was not completed until 1966 and the new track was finished a couple of years later.
B.J. Carey was a forward for the Hawkette basketball team and was on the first EG softball and girls' track teams. She married classmate Dale Robson and they settled down in Colorado. Jan also married a classmate, the late Bob Scharingson. Other "kids" all grown up now (and then some) from '64 were Lynda Moranville Cochran and her brother, Buddy Moranville, Sue Thornton, Sue Culley Juhl, Julie Thompson, Marna Rittgers, Ron Bouchard, John Rains, and Royal II "Curly" Holz, to name a few.
Be sure to check out the library website if you are headed to GJ or surrounding communities this summer to see what's happening in town--bake sales, ice cream socials, events at the local churches and so forth. The library actually has two websites. The one listed above takes you the community announcements page, while at the bottom is listed the link to take you to information about the library's collections and services: http://www.grandjunction.lib.ia.us/.
The annual Grand Junction Fun Day will be Saturday, June 27, with a parade, Lion's Club pancake breakfast, the Peoples Trust and Savings Bank Triathalon, and water fights sponsored by GJ Fire Department.
Other events include bingo, family games sponsored by the GJ Public Library and Naked Ladies Garden Club, and ITC 3-on-3 basketball. All-day activities include miniature golf, food booths, craft vendors, and Kennedy's Museum.
The Stone Age Romeos band will perform at the street dance in the evening and the fire department will sponsor a beer tent.
For updates on Fun Day, check out the library's website, http://www.grandjunctionlibrary.com/.
EYE ON GJ SAYS: It looks to be a great weekend in GJ on June 26-28, as the Class of '64 will be back in town to celebrate its 45th Reunion. The '64 bunch was a standout class and was just the second class to graduate from EG after its merger with Rippey in 1962 to form the "complete EG" that we know today, as the Classes of '60, '61, and '62 were the EG kids of Grand Junction and Dana while Rippey's last three graduating classes were '60, '61 and '62. The Class of '63 was the first to graduate from EG after the Rippey-EG union.
Notables among the Class of '64 were longtime EG educators Jan (Carter) Scharingson and Buddy Fagen. Buddy was a standout athlete those years at EG as was B.J. (Barbara Jean) Carey, who was also crowned homecoming queen that fall of 1963, which was also the first year for EG football. Go Hawks! The football games in those first few years were played on a field mapped out on the Rippey ball park, with bleachers put up for the fans. The football field in Grand Junction, since renamed Karber Field after longtime school board member Dr. Melvin "Doc" Karber, was not completed until 1966 and the new track was finished a couple of years later.
B.J. Carey was a forward for the Hawkette basketball team and was on the first EG softball and girls' track teams. She married classmate Dale Robson and they settled down in Colorado. Jan also married a classmate, the late Bob Scharingson. Other "kids" all grown up now (and then some) from '64 were Lynda Moranville Cochran and her brother, Buddy Moranville, Sue Thornton, Sue Culley Juhl, Julie Thompson, Marna Rittgers, Ron Bouchard, John Rains, and Royal II "Curly" Holz, to name a few.
Be sure to check out the library website if you are headed to GJ or surrounding communities this summer to see what's happening in town--bake sales, ice cream socials, events at the local churches and so forth. The library actually has two websites. The one listed above takes you the community announcements page, while at the bottom is listed the link to take you to information about the library's collections and services: http://www.grandjunction.lib.ia.us/.
SPORTS
Hawkettes Drop County Rivals, 9-8, in Ogden Tourney
East Greene broke into the win column for the 2009 season with a 9-8 victory over Jefferson-Sranton in the Bob Morgan Classic at Ogden on Saturday, May 30.
Ashley Thorpe got the win for the Hawkettes, giving up 9 hits, striking out 1 and allowing no walks. Laura Neal and Jennifer Kennedy shared mound duties for J-S with Kennedy taking the loss. Combined they gave up 7 hits, walked 5 and struck out 7. The game was a bit sloppy as EG had 5 errors and the Rams 4.
In other games at the Ogden tourney, the Hawkettes fell to the host school, 12-0, in 3 innings and to Madrid, 9-7, an improvement over their five-run loss to the Tigers earlier in the week in the conference opener at Madrid. J-S bounced back from the EG loss to beat Ogden, 5-0, and South Hamilton, 10-2. Boone won the championship with a 6-2 win over Odgen.
The Hawkettes had all kind of problems with Ogden as Thorpe gave up 12 hits and the defense had a whopping 9 errors. Heidi Kiner got the lone hit for East Greene with a single.
Things went more smoothly against Madrid, as EG pounded out 13 hits with Malarie Gilley going 2-3 with a triple and 2 RBIs. Kaitlynn Gannon went 3-4 with 2 RBIs and Megan Johnston was 2-3 with 2 RBIs. Liz Koch was 2-3 and Molly Neese smacked a double.
Thorpe and Gilley shared mound duties, giving up 8 hits, 4 walks and striking out 3. Sarah Kleinwort got the win for Madrid, giving up 13 hits walking 4 and striking out 5.
EG showed improvement on defense, whittling their errors down from 7 in their first game against Madrid to 4. Madrid played errorless, while in the first matchup with EG they had just one.
East Greene had faced Panorama in a make-up game on Friday, the night before the tournament, falling 10-3. Thorpe took the loss, giving up 15 hits, 4 walks and striking out 4. Sarah Meinecke got the win for the Panthers. She gave up 11 hits, walked 8, and struck out 2. EG had 4 errors and the Panthers were guilty of 2 miscues.
The Hawkettes ran into some tough pitching from Earlham's Amber Logemann, a freshman, as she struck out 10 EG batters to help the Cardinals to a 16-0 win in 6 innings in Grand Junction on Monday. Logemann have up just 2 hits and no walks. Thorpe took the loss for EG, giving up 11 hits, walking 2 and striking out 2. Earlham played an errorless game while the Hawkettes racked up 4 errors.
After Tuesday's game at Van Meter was rained out, the Hawkettes returned to action Thursday where they dropped a tough battle to Des Moines Christian, 6-3, on the Lions' home diamond in Urbandale. The Hawkettes were leading 3-2 in the bottom of the fifth inning, but DMC's Natalie Morris hit a double and drove in the tying and go-ahead runs. DMC added two more runs to run its conference mark to 3-0. EG fell to 0-4 in the West Central and 1-6 overall.
J-S won over Roland-Story, 3-0, in Jefferson on June 1 and then fell to North Polk, the top-ranked team in Class 2-A, in a heartbreaker on the road, 1-0, on June 2 to even their conference record to 2-2. The next night the Rams lost another tough one, falling to CMB (Collins-Maxwell/Baxter) 2-0 in 14 innings in Jefferson. Kayla Promes was on the mound for J-S and she racked up 14 strikeouts. The loss dropped J-S to 2-3 in Heart of Iowa play and to 4-5 overall.
SCOREBOARD
West Central Conference Standings (thru 6-4)
GLR 4-0
EAR 3-0
DMC 2-0
MAD 2-1
VMR 2-1
PAN 2-3
CRB 1-2
WCV 0-2
GTH 0-3
EGR 0-4
Friday and Saturday, June 5-6:
WC Non-Conference Scores
DMC 11, Lone Tree 1
Louisa-Muscatine 17, DMC 8
West Branch 3, DMC 0
EAR 5, East Union 0
Area Scores:
Odgen 6, Southeast Webster-Grand 4, SWG ranked #10 in Class 1A
Thursday, June 4:
Conference Scores
DMC 6, EGR 3
EAR 4, GTH 3 (10 inn.)
GLR 2, CRB 1
MAD 4, PAN 3
VMR 4, WCV 2
Area Scores
CMB 2, JS 0 (14 inn.)
Boone 10, Norwalk 0 (6 inn.)
SWG 4, Northeast Hamilton 1
West Bend-Mallard 16, Prairie Valley 7
Wednesday, June 3:
Conference Scores
DMC 15, GTH 5 (5 inn.)
Non-conference Games
PAN 6, Prairie Valley 3
Area Scores
CMB 3, Ogden 0
Alta 15, RCL 3 (3 inn.)
Carroll 9, Perry 0
Tuesday, June 2:
Conference Scores
GLR 2, PAN 1
Area Scores
North Polk 1, J-S 0, NP ranked #1 in Class 2A
Newell-Fonda 12, RC-L 2 (5 inn.) NF ranked #4 in Class 1A
SWG 7, CAL 3
Monday, June 1:
Conference Scores
EAR 16, EGR 0 (6 inn.)
GLR 10, MAD 1
PAN 8, CRB 4
VMR 6, GTH 4
East Greene broke into the win column for the 2009 season with a 9-8 victory over Jefferson-Sranton in the Bob Morgan Classic at Ogden on Saturday, May 30.
Ashley Thorpe got the win for the Hawkettes, giving up 9 hits, striking out 1 and allowing no walks. Laura Neal and Jennifer Kennedy shared mound duties for J-S with Kennedy taking the loss. Combined they gave up 7 hits, walked 5 and struck out 7. The game was a bit sloppy as EG had 5 errors and the Rams 4.
In other games at the Ogden tourney, the Hawkettes fell to the host school, 12-0, in 3 innings and to Madrid, 9-7, an improvement over their five-run loss to the Tigers earlier in the week in the conference opener at Madrid. J-S bounced back from the EG loss to beat Ogden, 5-0, and South Hamilton, 10-2. Boone won the championship with a 6-2 win over Odgen.
The Hawkettes had all kind of problems with Ogden as Thorpe gave up 12 hits and the defense had a whopping 9 errors. Heidi Kiner got the lone hit for East Greene with a single.
Things went more smoothly against Madrid, as EG pounded out 13 hits with Malarie Gilley going 2-3 with a triple and 2 RBIs. Kaitlynn Gannon went 3-4 with 2 RBIs and Megan Johnston was 2-3 with 2 RBIs. Liz Koch was 2-3 and Molly Neese smacked a double.
Thorpe and Gilley shared mound duties, giving up 8 hits, 4 walks and striking out 3. Sarah Kleinwort got the win for Madrid, giving up 13 hits walking 4 and striking out 5.
EG showed improvement on defense, whittling their errors down from 7 in their first game against Madrid to 4. Madrid played errorless, while in the first matchup with EG they had just one.
East Greene had faced Panorama in a make-up game on Friday, the night before the tournament, falling 10-3. Thorpe took the loss, giving up 15 hits, 4 walks and striking out 4. Sarah Meinecke got the win for the Panthers. She gave up 11 hits, walked 8, and struck out 2. EG had 4 errors and the Panthers were guilty of 2 miscues.
The Hawkettes ran into some tough pitching from Earlham's Amber Logemann, a freshman, as she struck out 10 EG batters to help the Cardinals to a 16-0 win in 6 innings in Grand Junction on Monday. Logemann have up just 2 hits and no walks. Thorpe took the loss for EG, giving up 11 hits, walking 2 and striking out 2. Earlham played an errorless game while the Hawkettes racked up 4 errors.
After Tuesday's game at Van Meter was rained out, the Hawkettes returned to action Thursday where they dropped a tough battle to Des Moines Christian, 6-3, on the Lions' home diamond in Urbandale. The Hawkettes were leading 3-2 in the bottom of the fifth inning, but DMC's Natalie Morris hit a double and drove in the tying and go-ahead runs. DMC added two more runs to run its conference mark to 3-0. EG fell to 0-4 in the West Central and 1-6 overall.
J-S won over Roland-Story, 3-0, in Jefferson on June 1 and then fell to North Polk, the top-ranked team in Class 2-A, in a heartbreaker on the road, 1-0, on June 2 to even their conference record to 2-2. The next night the Rams lost another tough one, falling to CMB (Collins-Maxwell/Baxter) 2-0 in 14 innings in Jefferson. Kayla Promes was on the mound for J-S and she racked up 14 strikeouts. The loss dropped J-S to 2-3 in Heart of Iowa play and to 4-5 overall.
SCOREBOARD
West Central Conference Standings (thru 6-4)
GLR 4-0
EAR 3-0
DMC 2-0
MAD 2-1
VMR 2-1
PAN 2-3
CRB 1-2
WCV 0-2
GTH 0-3
EGR 0-4
Friday and Saturday, June 5-6:
WC Non-Conference Scores
DMC 11, Lone Tree 1
Louisa-Muscatine 17, DMC 8
West Branch 3, DMC 0
EAR 5, East Union 0
Area Scores:
Odgen 6, Southeast Webster-Grand 4, SWG ranked #10 in Class 1A
Thursday, June 4:
Conference Scores
DMC 6, EGR 3
EAR 4, GTH 3 (10 inn.)
GLR 2, CRB 1
MAD 4, PAN 3
VMR 4, WCV 2
Area Scores
CMB 2, JS 0 (14 inn.)
Boone 10, Norwalk 0 (6 inn.)
SWG 4, Northeast Hamilton 1
West Bend-Mallard 16, Prairie Valley 7
Wednesday, June 3:
Conference Scores
DMC 15, GTH 5 (5 inn.)
Non-conference Games
PAN 6, Prairie Valley 3
Area Scores
CMB 3, Ogden 0
Alta 15, RCL 3 (3 inn.)
Carroll 9, Perry 0
Tuesday, June 2:
Conference Scores
GLR 2, PAN 1
Area Scores
North Polk 1, J-S 0, NP ranked #1 in Class 2A
Newell-Fonda 12, RC-L 2 (5 inn.) NF ranked #4 in Class 1A
SWG 7, CAL 3
Monday, June 1:
Conference Scores
EAR 16, EGR 0 (6 inn.)
GLR 10, MAD 1
PAN 8, CRB 4
VMR 6, GTH 4
Monday, June 1, 2009
Softball
Hawkettes Drop Season Opener to Madrid, 8-2
East Greene opened the 2009 softball campaign with an 8-2 loss at Madrid on Thursday.
It was the conference and season opener for the Hawkettes putting them at 0-1 in the league with Madrid starting the conference campaign at 1-0.
The Hawkettes will be out to improve on their 6-18 record last year and their 2-16 conference mark, which saw them finish last in the West Central Conference. Leading the team this year are seniors Ashley Thorpe and Megan Johnston and junior Malarie Gilley. Other letter winners returning are junior Heidi Kiner and sophomores Molly Neese and Katlynn Gannon.
Thorpe was a first-team all conference pick two years ago and was named to the second team as an infielder last year. She is projected to be the starting pitcher this year, taking over for the Jess Sillyman, who graduated in 2008, along with Emily Neese, Emily Gilley and Lacey Heater. Malarie Gilley, a junior, is a two-time all-conference honorable mention pick.
EG may have finished last in the league in 2008, but they were competitive with all the teams, rarely losing by more than three to four runs, with very close losses to top teams CR-B 9-8, DMC 5-3, and GR 8-5. Only one game was shortened by the 10-run rule, an 11-1 loss to Panorama at Panora, which was called after 5 innings. Twice the Hawkettes triumphed over two foes in games shortened by the 10-run rule: 11-1 over Adair-Casey in non-conference action and a 10-0 shutout of league foe Guthrie Center.
A few breaks and last year's record could have been much different as the Hawkettes lost tough one-run games to Panorama and West Central Valley and fell by just two runs to Van Meter in Grand Junction and by three runs to the Bulldogs in Van Meter. EG stayed with league champ Madrid, losing by just five and six runs in their home-and-home series. The Hawkettes ended the season in first round regional play at Madrid with another tough loss to Van Meter, this time by one run, 3-2.
The highlight of last season was a 2-1 win over Jefferson-Scranton at the Bob Morgan Tournament in Ogden, giving the Hawkettes and Hawks a clean sweep in baseball and softball in 2008 over their much larger rivals and neighbors to the west.
The high level of competition in the West Central was evidenced by EG's 4-1 non-conference record (with the exception of the regional first-round loss to Van Meter). In addition to the wins over J-S and Adair-Casey, the Hawkettes beat Southern Cal and Newman of Mason City, and lost to Ogden.
Madrid won the West Central championship with a 17-1 record. Des Moines Christian and Glidden-Ralston tied for second place at 15-3. Madrid made it to the regional finals before falling to Southeast Webster-Grand, 10-0. SWG advanced to the state tournament at Fort Dodge where they finished fifth.
SWG and Madrid have emerged as area softball powers in the last few years, supplanting Woodward-Granger, Coon Rapids-Bayard and Earlham. SWG competes in the Twin Lakes Conference and Woodward-Granger in the Heart of Iowa small school division. But W-G moves to the West Central next year, replacing Glidden-Ralston, as the Wildcats will be members of the Rolling Hills Conference next year, joining Paton-Churdan, which left the WC for the RH in 2007-08.
Glidden-Ralston could make its last year in the league its best ever as the Wildcats return both first team all-conference pitcher, Hallie Schon, and first-team all-conference catcher, Krystin Winkler, along with senior infielder Madison Ball. All three are seniors, giving G-R solid veteran leadership.
Earlham and Coon Rapids-Bayard look to be contenders for the conference crown too. Earlham returns seniors Rachel Gilmore, pitcher, and Jamie Imboden, infielder, both second-team all-conference picks last year. CR-B is having a phenomenal year in girls sports, as its volleyball, basketball and golf teams have all advanced to state, giving the Crusaders an across the board sweep in fall-winter-spring. They could make it a clean sweep of fall-winter-spring-summer with their softball squad this season as veterans Heidi Esdohr, Taylor Hilgenberg, Lindsey Reis and Gentry Sheer, all seniors, return to the diamond for their final appearances in a CR-B uniform. Eisdohr is a three-time, first-team all-conference pick. Hilgenberg was a first team wild card pick last year, while Eisdohr was picked as infielder.
Des Moines Christian can't be counted out as they have developed a strong tradition, winning conference champions in 2006 and 2007, the same year they advanced to the state tournament and finished as consolation champions (fifth place), ending the season 38-3.
Southeast Webster-Grand has been to the state tournament three of the last four years. Earlham made it to state in 2006, as did Madrid, competing then in the Heart of Iowa Conference.
WEST CENTRAL CONFERENCE
(through 5-28)
Coon Rapids-Bayard 1-0
Des Moines Christian 1-0
Earlham 1-0
Glidden-Ralston 1-0
East Greene 0-1
Guthrie Center 0-1
Panorama 0-1
Van Meter 0-1
West Central Valley 0-1
Conference Scores, Tuesday, May 28:
CRB 3, GC 2
DMC 5, VM 3
EAR 4, PAN 0
GR 2, WCV 1
MAD 8, EG 2
Area Scores, Tuesday, May 28:
J-S 9, Gilbert 4
SWG 11, CWL 0
WG 11, Roland-Story 1
East Greene opened the 2009 softball campaign with an 8-2 loss at Madrid on Thursday.
It was the conference and season opener for the Hawkettes putting them at 0-1 in the league with Madrid starting the conference campaign at 1-0.
The Hawkettes will be out to improve on their 6-18 record last year and their 2-16 conference mark, which saw them finish last in the West Central Conference. Leading the team this year are seniors Ashley Thorpe and Megan Johnston and junior Malarie Gilley. Other letter winners returning are junior Heidi Kiner and sophomores Molly Neese and Katlynn Gannon.
Thorpe was a first-team all conference pick two years ago and was named to the second team as an infielder last year. She is projected to be the starting pitcher this year, taking over for the Jess Sillyman, who graduated in 2008, along with Emily Neese, Emily Gilley and Lacey Heater. Malarie Gilley, a junior, is a two-time all-conference honorable mention pick.
EG may have finished last in the league in 2008, but they were competitive with all the teams, rarely losing by more than three to four runs, with very close losses to top teams CR-B 9-8, DMC 5-3, and GR 8-5. Only one game was shortened by the 10-run rule, an 11-1 loss to Panorama at Panora, which was called after 5 innings. Twice the Hawkettes triumphed over two foes in games shortened by the 10-run rule: 11-1 over Adair-Casey in non-conference action and a 10-0 shutout of league foe Guthrie Center.
A few breaks and last year's record could have been much different as the Hawkettes lost tough one-run games to Panorama and West Central Valley and fell by just two runs to Van Meter in Grand Junction and by three runs to the Bulldogs in Van Meter. EG stayed with league champ Madrid, losing by just five and six runs in their home-and-home series. The Hawkettes ended the season in first round regional play at Madrid with another tough loss to Van Meter, this time by one run, 3-2.
The highlight of last season was a 2-1 win over Jefferson-Scranton at the Bob Morgan Tournament in Ogden, giving the Hawkettes and Hawks a clean sweep in baseball and softball in 2008 over their much larger rivals and neighbors to the west.
The high level of competition in the West Central was evidenced by EG's 4-1 non-conference record (with the exception of the regional first-round loss to Van Meter). In addition to the wins over J-S and Adair-Casey, the Hawkettes beat Southern Cal and Newman of Mason City, and lost to Ogden.
Madrid won the West Central championship with a 17-1 record. Des Moines Christian and Glidden-Ralston tied for second place at 15-3. Madrid made it to the regional finals before falling to Southeast Webster-Grand, 10-0. SWG advanced to the state tournament at Fort Dodge where they finished fifth.
SWG and Madrid have emerged as area softball powers in the last few years, supplanting Woodward-Granger, Coon Rapids-Bayard and Earlham. SWG competes in the Twin Lakes Conference and Woodward-Granger in the Heart of Iowa small school division. But W-G moves to the West Central next year, replacing Glidden-Ralston, as the Wildcats will be members of the Rolling Hills Conference next year, joining Paton-Churdan, which left the WC for the RH in 2007-08.
Glidden-Ralston could make its last year in the league its best ever as the Wildcats return both first team all-conference pitcher, Hallie Schon, and first-team all-conference catcher, Krystin Winkler, along with senior infielder Madison Ball. All three are seniors, giving G-R solid veteran leadership.
Earlham and Coon Rapids-Bayard look to be contenders for the conference crown too. Earlham returns seniors Rachel Gilmore, pitcher, and Jamie Imboden, infielder, both second-team all-conference picks last year. CR-B is having a phenomenal year in girls sports, as its volleyball, basketball and golf teams have all advanced to state, giving the Crusaders an across the board sweep in fall-winter-spring. They could make it a clean sweep of fall-winter-spring-summer with their softball squad this season as veterans Heidi Esdohr, Taylor Hilgenberg, Lindsey Reis and Gentry Sheer, all seniors, return to the diamond for their final appearances in a CR-B uniform. Eisdohr is a three-time, first-team all-conference pick. Hilgenberg was a first team wild card pick last year, while Eisdohr was picked as infielder.
Des Moines Christian can't be counted out as they have developed a strong tradition, winning conference champions in 2006 and 2007, the same year they advanced to the state tournament and finished as consolation champions (fifth place), ending the season 38-3.
Southeast Webster-Grand has been to the state tournament three of the last four years. Earlham made it to state in 2006, as did Madrid, competing then in the Heart of Iowa Conference.
WEST CENTRAL CONFERENCE
(through 5-28)
Coon Rapids-Bayard 1-0
Des Moines Christian 1-0
Earlham 1-0
Glidden-Ralston 1-0
East Greene 0-1
Guthrie Center 0-1
Panorama 0-1
Van Meter 0-1
West Central Valley 0-1
Conference Scores, Tuesday, May 28:
CRB 3, GC 2
DMC 5, VM 3
EAR 4, PAN 0
GR 2, WCV 1
MAD 8, EG 2
Area Scores, Tuesday, May 28:
J-S 9, Gilbert 4
SWG 11, CWL 0
WG 11, Roland-Story 1
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