Hawks Win District, Face North English in Substate

THIRD STRAIGHT DISTRICT CROWN FOR EAST GREENE

East Greene won its third straight district baseball crown Saturday, July 16, over Northern University of Cedar Falls, 6-4, at the West Marshall baseball field in State Center.

The win pits EG, winner of District 10, against English Valleys of North English in the substate game tonight at 7 p.m. in Marshalltown. English Valleys got by BGM (Brooklyn) 4-2 in 8 innings in the District 9 championship. The winner tonight advances to the Class 1A state baseball tournament July 25-30 at Principal Park in Des Moines.

Northern University (NU) had been ranked as high as No. 5 this season and upended No. 4 North Tama (Traer) in a first-round district game at Traer. And the Panthers looked hard to stop in the top of the first inning against the Hawks, jumping out to a 3-0 lead. But EG came back in the bottom of the first to post 2 runs and send a message to NU, which was on a 7-game winning streak, that it would be a ball game.

Heading into the bottom of the fourth, EG was still down 3-2, but a combination of timely hits, an NU error and a hit batter lead to 4 runs and the Hawks took the lead 6-3. The EG defense stiffened the rest of the way, allowing just 1 more Panther run—securing the win and advancing to a third straight substate berth. Last year the Hawks were edged by Ar-We-Va 3-2 and two years ago EG beat Grandview Park Baptist to move on to the state tournament.

Tyler Cooklin picked up the win, pitching all 7 innings and giving up 6 hits, 4 runs, 3 earned runs, 3 walks and 12 strikeouts. The Hawks scattered 9 singles with 2 each from Cooklin, Zach Dearborn and Wes Onken and one each from Aaron Lyons, Tory Beger and Alex Gordon. Freshman T.J. Lint got the Hawks’ lone extra-base hit of the evening, a double.

The win evened the Hawks record at 13-13. They take on an English Valley team that is 8-15 after winning the district crown over BGM. NU ends its season at 22-9.

NU High 300 010 0 - 4 6 4
East Greene 200 400 x - 6 10 1

EYE ON GJ SAYS: English Valleys is a district with roughly the same enrollment as Guthrie Center, a longtime West Central Conference league foe. Neither team will be overlooking the other. EV is a member of the South Iowa Cedar Conference and ended a 6-game losing streak by beating HLV (Victor) in its season finale, and has now won 4 straight—half of its season win total. EV sidelined a solid BMG team (17-9) to win the District 9 crown.

EG just finished its first season in the Rolling Hills Conference after nearly 15 years playing in the tough 1A-2A West Central. But the power shifted to the Rolling Hills this season as three league teams are competing in three of the five substate championship games tonight. Orient-Macksburg (12-15) takes on Nishnabotna (19-5) at Bedford. Walnut (18-6) takes on Coon Rapids-Bayard (28-5) at Harlan. Game time for all substate games is 7 p.m.
CRB is the only West Central team to win a district crown and advance to the substate. Van Meter faced North Polk (Alleman) in a 2A district final, but lost 7-4. CRB entered district play as the No. 6 team in Class 1A and disposed of Ar-We-Va (Westside) and Glidden-Ralston before drubbing West Harrison (Mondamin) 23-3 in 5 innings in the District 16 final at Coon Rapids.

ABOUT ENGLISH VALLEYS: The English Valleys district is comprised of North English and South English. North English (pop. 1,041) straddles the county line between Iowa and Keokuk counties and is located about 40 miles southwest of Iowa City. South English (pop. 212) is in northeastern Keokuk County, 5 miles south of North English on Iowa Highway 149.

The school takes its name from the North Fork of the English River which flows eastward north of North English and the South Fork of the English River which flows eastward between North English and South English. The two branches conjoin 7 miles further east beyond the two towns at a point where Iowa, Keokuk and Washington counties meet. The English River then continues eastward until it meets the Iowa River between the towns of Riverside and River Junction, about 10 miles south of Iowa City.