TOURNEY ACTION

Hawkettes Meet CRB in Regional

East Greene fell to Glidden-Ralston in its final regular season softball game, 10-0, in 5 innings at Glidden Monday night.

Wildcat ace Hallie Schon limited the Hawkettes to 1 hit while striking out 8 and walking just one. Ashley Thorpe took the loss, giving up 5 hits and 10 walks.

East Greene ended the regular season 4-18 and 2-16 in the West Central Conference. GR beat Panorama in a make-up game last night to end its last year in the conference as runner-up to Earlham with a 13-5 record.

West Central Conference
FINAL STANDINGS
Earlham 15-3
Glidden-Ralston 13-5
Des Moines Christian 10-7
Madrid 10-7
Van Meter 9-8
Guthrie Center 8-10
Panorama 8-10
West Central Valley 7-10
Coon Rapids-Bayard 5-11
East Greene 2-16

REGIONAL PREVIEW: EG heads to Coon Rapids tonight to take on Coon Rapids-Bayard in opening round regional Class 1A action. EG dropped a close game to the Crusaders 12-11 on its last trip to Coon Rapids on June 9. Last week, the two teams tangled again in Grand Junction, but CRB got the better of the Hawkettes, 12-3.

It’s a new season tonight though and the Hawkettes will be out to redeem their earlier losses. CRB finished just ahead of EG in the conference race at 5-11 but the Crusaders fared better in non-conference play as their overall season mark is 16-12.

EG and CRB face off at 7:30 p.m. as the nightcap in a doubleheader. Exira faces Adair-Casey in the first game at 6 p.m. Those two teams are in the lower half of the Coon Rapids bracket and the winner will advance to play the winner of the Earlham-CAM game tonight in Anita in the quarterfinals on Friday, also in Anita. Both of those games are at 7 p.m.

The EG-CRB winner takes on Glidden-Ralston, which got a first round bye, in a quarterfinal game at Coon Rapids, also on Friday. Winners of the games in Anita and Coon Rapids will meet in the regional semifinals on Monday at 7 p.m in Coon Rapids. The winner of that game will face the winner of the lower half of the Region 4 bracket in the final in Ames next Wednesday (June 15) at 7 p.m. with winner advancing to the 1A State Tournament in Fort Dodge.

EYE ON GJ SAYS: Earlham and Glidden-Ralston look to have the upper hand in the Coon Rapids half of the bracket. GR ended the season at 22-7 and finished just behind Earlham in the always tough West Central. GR was ranked as high as seventh earlier this season. Earlham (26-8) should have an easy time in its half of the CR bracket opposite three teams from the Rolling Hills, which is not as competitive as the West Central which has a mix of 1A and 2A teams. The RH is all 1A teams. Exira won the RH at 9-1, just ahead of CAM and Orient-Macksburg, both at 7-3. Exira is 11-6 overall, CAM is 12-8 and Adair-Casey is 2-22.

West Central opponents Madrid and Van Meter are the in the lower half of the regional bracket. Madrid (15-17) opens at home against Colo-Nesco while Van Meter (9-19) hosts Grandview Park Baptist. The winners of those two games will face off Friday at Madrid, with the winner advancing to the semifinal round against the winner of the Sully quarterfinal game. Lynnville-Sully will be the favorite, hosting the first three rounds on its home diamond. Lynnville-Sully hosts BGM (Brooklyn) in round one and the winner will take on the GMG (Garwin)-North Tama (Traer) winner on Friday in Sully. Lynnville-Sully (20-7) is ranked 15th in Class 1A.

In Class 2A, conference opponents Des Moines Christian (13-19) and West Central Valley (15-12) are in the upper bracket of Region 8 and Panorama and Guthrie Center are in the region’s lower bracket. They all face stiff competition. DMC takes on Bondurant-Farrar (28-3), the No. 4 ranked team in Class 2A, Thursday night in Bondurant. West Central Valley travels to Greenfield to face Nodaway Valley (23-9) on its home diamond. The winner of those two games will advance to the quarterfinal at Bondurant on Friday. The winner Friday advances to the upper bracket semifinal in Truro, facing either Wayne (Corydon), Mount Ayr, Central Decatur or I-35 (Truro).

Panorama (13-16) travels to Alleman on Thursday to face North Polk (26-6), which tied for the Heart of Iowa-Large title with Bondurant-Farrar at 17-1. North Polk, ranked No. 3 in Class 2A, won the 2A state championship last year over Solon 4-2 and finished the season 40-4. North Polk has made 15 state tournament appearances and has been to state the last four seasons straight, also winning a title in 2006 and finishing third in 2007.

Guthrie Center takes on another area softball power, Woodward-Granger (20-9) at Woodward on Thursday. The winner advances to the quarterfinal in Alleman on Friday against the North Polk-Panorama winner. The Friday winner moves on to the semifinal game in Greenfield on Monday. Teams on the opposite side of the Greenfield (lower) bracket are Shenandoah, Clarinda, Griswold and Red Oak. The regional final is Wednesday, July 15, at Adel.

Also in Class 2A on Thursday, Jefferson-Scranton (14-13) opens regional play at Farnhamville against Prairie Valley (14-16) while Ogden (14-13) hosts Gilbert (5-15). Class 3A opens regional action on Saturday. Perry (1-27) travels to Carroll and Boone (21-8) hosts Nevada. The winners advance to the semifinal round at Boone on Monday with the regional final on Wednesday at Dallas Center.