Hawkettes Fall to SWG in Regional

FIRST ROUND LOSS ENDS SEASON AT 6-15

Southeast Webster-Grand ended the Hawkettes’ softball season last Wednesday, July 7, with a 10-6 victory in the first round of regional action in Ogden.

SWG jumped out to 9-1 lead but EG came back with a big 5-run rally in the bottom of the sixth to move within three runs. But SWG added a run in the top of the 7th and EG came up empty in the bottom of the inning to end its season at 6-15.

It was the last appearance in an EG uniform for all-sport standout Malarie Gilley, who graduated in May along with teammate Heidi Kiner. Gilley closed out her EG career in fine style with a solo home run in the fourth inning. Gilley was the losing pitcher, giving up 12 hits and 5 walks while striking out three. Gilley’s homer was part of a 9-hit attack by the Hawkettes. Tia Lowe had a double and single and Emily Jacobsen had two singles.

SWG advanced to the quarterfinal round in Glidden on Friday to face Glidden-Ralston, a 2-1 winner over Ar-We-Va (Westside). GR was the only Rolling Hills Conference team to make it past the first round in regional action on Wednesday. Elk Horn-Kimballton/Exira, which rolled to the league title with a 10-0 mark and was 19-9 overall, was sidelined by AHST (Avoca), 9-5.

SWG rolled over the Wildcats 11-0 in five innings Friday, which put SWG in the semifinal round opposite Newell-Fonda, ranked second in the state. The Eagles put up a good fight but were eliminated 11-6. Newell-Fonda went on to claim the regional championship over No. 11 Alta, 6-5, advancing on the state tournament next week in Fort Dodge. Newell-Fonda was the runner-up last year to Earlham, the 2009 West Central Champion. Earlham was moved up to Class 2A this year and was eliminated 12-0 in the quarterfinal round by No. 10 Interstate 35 (Truro).

Woodward-Granger, winner of the West Central Conference, also advanced to state in 1A with a 2-0 win over Treynor that was called after 5 innings because of rain. Fourth-ranked Woodward-Granger (33-4) will face fifth-ranked Martensdale-St. Mary’s (27-6) on Monday. Like Newell-Fonda, MSt.M is also a repeater from last year’s tournament, finishing in third place.

EYE ON GJ SAYS: The folks who do the rankings at the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union (IGHSAU) really know their 1A softball! The eight teams that qualified for the state tournament were ranked 1 through 8 in the final softball poll released by the IGHSAU on July 1, a week before tourney action got underway on Wednesday, July 7. The eight teams, ranked in order, are: Akron-Westfield, Newell-Fonda, North Butler, Woodward-Granger, Martensdale-St. Mary’s, Preston, North Sentral Kossuth and Lynville-Sully. This made the first round matchups pretty simple as the teams are seeded 1 vs. 8, 4 vs. 5, 6 vs. 3, and 2 vs. 7.

Madrid and Van Meter were the only other West Central teams to make deep runs in the tourney. Van Meter advanced to the semifinal round in 1A before falling to Newman (Mason City). After disposing of Earlham, Interstate 35 went on to beat No. 13 Van Meter, 4-2, on the Bulldogs’ home diamond.

East Greene showed great improvement throughout this season, posting big wins over Des Moines Christian and sweeping both Coon Rapids-Bayard and West Central Valley, teams it had trouble with in past seasons. EG—smallest school in the West Central by far—finished in eighth place with a 5-13 record and was very close to tying Guthrie Center for seventh. EG had finished in the league cellar the last two seasons.

The Hawkettes will miss the fine contribution from Gilley and Kiner, but the showing of five eighth graders on the squad this year holds great promise for future EG softball success. The four returning juniors—Lowe, Molly Neese, Katlynn Gannon and Jasmine Kinney—and the five 8th graders—Jacobsen, Allie Stoline, Shelby Cooklin, Brooke Popp and Chelsie Wilkens—will serve as a very solid nucleus for next year’s move to the Rolling Hills.

The West Central was clearly the superior league as one team has advanced to the state tournament and two made it to the regional semifinal round while the RH was
1-5 in the opening round of the tournament, and with GR’s loss in the second round, the league went a dismal 2-6 in post season play against non-league foes. The five 1A teams in the West Central went 4-1 in the opening round, with only EG coming up with a loss. And two of the wins came over RH teams as WG rolled over Adair-Casey in three innings and CRB beat CAM (Anita). The 2A teams in the West Central went 1-2 and the other two league teams faced each other. Overall, the West Central’s tally against non-leagues foes in the post-season stands at 9-7 with WG guaranteed three more games at State.

In head-to-head competition during the regular and post-season combined, the West Central had the upper hand, winning 13 games to just two for Rolling Hills teams. And those wins were from EHKE, the league champion, over the bottom two teams in the West Central—CRB and West Central Valley (Stuart).

So look for East Greene to be very competitive in the Rolling Hills next year, which looks to be wide open as each team had some standout young players. EHKE dominated the league but loses four seniors off this year’s team. The other five teams all had losing seasons overall, and none of them reached the 10-win mark. EG just needs to develop a pitcher among its younger players and then move forward behind that pitcher in the years ahead. Hopefully, there might be some prospective pitchers off of this year’s junior high team who will be eligible to play varsity after completing the 8th grade next spring.

West Central and Rolling Hills Post-Season Results:

West Central
Thursday, July 15:
Class 1A Final Round
WG 2, Treynor 0 (ended after 5 innings, game ruled complete)

Mon., July 12:
Class 1A Semifinal Round
WG 4, Riverside (Oakland) 2
Newman (Mason City) 7, Madrid 1
Class 2A Semifinal Round
Interstate 35 4, VM 2

Fri., July 9:
Class 1A Regional Quarterfinal Round
Melcher-Dallas 9, DMC 8 (8)
Madrid 6, North Tama 4 (8)
WG 11, CRB 0
Class 2A Regional Quarterfinal Round
Interstate 35 (Truro) 12, Earlham 0
VM 8, Audubon 0

Thurs., July 8:
Class 2A Regional First Round
EAR 4, Nodaway Valley (Greenfield) 1
Audubon 17, GC 4
Interstate 35 (Truro) 12, WCV 0 (4)
VM 6, Panorama 0

Wed., July 7:
Class 1A Regional First Round
Southeast Webster-Grand 10, EG 6
CRB 3, CAM (Anita) 1
DMC 11, Grandview Park Baptist 1 (6)
Madrid 5, GMG (Garwin) 0
WG 12, Adair-Casey 0 (3)

Rolling Hills
Fri., July 9:
Class 1A Regionals, Quarterfinal Round
Southeast Webster-Grand 11, GR 0 (5)

Wed., July 7:
Class 1A Regionals, First Round
GR 2, Ar-We-Va 1
AHST (Avoca) 9, EHKE 5
Coon Rapids-Bayard 3, CAM 1
Corning 10, Orient-Macksburg 9
Riverside 10, Walnut 0 (5)
Woodward-Granger 12, Adair-Casey 0 (3)