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The
Official Newspaper of Manchester and Delaware County, Iowa
Tuesday,
June 20, 2006 | |
Hawks rally to top Wahlert, claim invite title
by Ken Boesenberg
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The road to the West Delaware Hawk Invitational Softball Tournament title is never an easy one, no matter who ends up taking the trophy home.
The 2006 Hawk Invite was no exception.
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At left, West Delaware’s Kayla Vaske nears home plate with the winning run against Dubuque Wahlert. The ball just got away from the Dubuque Wahlert catcher allowing Vaske to score for the Hawks. Vaske was pinch running for Jenny Hood who started the Hawks seventh inning rally with a lead off single. At right, Kayla Bries of West Delaware hit this pitch for a single to right field to score Kayla Vaske (left photo) from second base to give the Hawks a 5-4 come from behind victory over Dubuque Wahlert in the championship game of the West Delaware Hawk Invitational Softball Tournament early Saturday evening. |
Some very good teams entered the two day tournament with lofty records and left with sub .500 performances.
In the end it would be a rematch of the 2005 Regional Finals, West Delaware vs. Dubuque Wahlert.
This time the orange and black would come out on top by a score of 5-4.
Both teams had taken care of business during their first three games of the tournament.
Wahlert downed Ed-Co 4-0 in their first game on Friday before sending Class 4A, third ranked Bettendorf down to defeat, 4-2.
On Saturday the Golden Eagles disposed of WaMaC Conference representative Independence, 5-3, to earn a date in the finals.
As for the Hawks they started the tournament out on Friday with a rather tough 3-1 win over Clayton Ridge.
With the game tied at 1-1 entering the seventh inning the Hawks scored a pair of runs to pick up the victory.
Jenny Hood led off the seventh with a single and scored on a double by Katie Wessels. Pinch runner Emily Havertape then scored on an Ashley Hood hit to give the Hawks a 3-1 lead.
Winning pitcher, Katie Murphy put down Clayton Ridge in order in the bottom of the seventh to advance the Hawks to the winners bracket quarterfinals.
Murphy allowed just one hit and struck out 13 batters. Ashley Hood was the leading hitter for the Hawks with two hits.
Next up for the Hawks were the Hawks of North Fayette. West Delaware had already owned a pair of victories over North Fayette having beaten them at the Charles City and Jesup tournaments.
The Hawks got off to a good start by scoring nine runs in the first two innings as they coasted to a 10-1 victory.
Katie Murphy tossed four innings of no-hit ball, striking out 11 batters while Megan Rolfes tossed the final three innings and also not allowing a hit.
Offensively the Hawks were led by Katlyn Heiserman who was four for four with three runs scored, two stolen bases and a pair of runs batted in. Emily Prinsen was two for three with two runs batted in and one stolen base.
In the semi-finals the Hawks squared off against a much improved Oelwein Husky team.
The Hawks proved to be too much for the Huskies as they moved to the finals with a 12-1 five inning victory.
West Delaware scored five runs in the third, two in the fourth and five more in the fifth to end the game early.
Megan Rolfes picked up the win as she tossed a two hitter and struck out four batters.
Sara Hermsen was the Hawks leading hitter against the Huskies with a pair of doubles and four runs batted in. Emily Prinsen also had two hits and a pair of RBI’s.
The win over the Huskies sent the Hawks into the finals against Dubuque Wahlert.
The game would be one of momentum, first on the Golden Eagle side and then to the West Delaware side.
Wahlert jumped out to an early 2-0 lead.
The Hawks were able to cut that in half in the bottom of the third inning when Katie Wessels doubled and scored on a sacrifice by Ashley Hood.
Wahlert added two runs in the top of the sixth inning to take a 4-1 lead.
However, in the home half of the sixth the Hawks scored three runs to tie the game at 4-4.
The big hit in the inning was a two out single by Lindsey McDowell which plated runs three and four for the Hawks.
The Hawks scored the winning run in the bottom of the seventh when Jenny Hood led off with a single. Kayla Vaske came in to pinch run for Hood and was moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Katie Wessels.
Kayla Bries line a two strike single to right field that scored Vaske to give the Hawks the win and the tournament title.
Earlier in the week the Hawks had picked up four big WaMaC Conference wins by topping Western Dubuque 5-0 and 10-0 before downing Marion 9-2 and 4-0.
The eight wins during the week moved the Hawks season record to 19-2.
Katie Murphy and Megan Rolfes each picked up two wins during the four conference games.
Rolfes gave up just two hits and struck out three in the Hawks 10-0 win over Western Dubuque.
Against Marion Megan had nine strike outs, allowed one hit and walked just one batter.
Katie Murphy picked up the win in game one against Western Dubuque with a no-hitter while striking out eight Bobcat batters.
She also won game one against Marion with a one-hit, 12 strike out effort. |
West Delaware boys 10-run Marion, twice
by Ken Boesenberg |
| The West Delaware boys baseball team rebounded from a double header split with Western Dubuque |
At left, the Hawks Alex Ryan raps a double in West Delaware’s 11-1 game two win over the Indians of Marion last Thursday night in Marion. At right, BJ Hermsen of West Delaware delivers a pitch during the Hawks game one, 11-1, victory over Marion in a big WaMaC Conference double header last Thursday night in Marion. |
on Monday night to sweep Dubuque Senior on Tuesday night and do the same, via the 10-run rule, to WaMaC Conference rival Marion on Thursday night in Marion.
The five victories last week upped the Hawks season record to 19-2.
The week started off with a big conference double header against Western Dubuque.
In game one Zach McCool spun a complete game four-hitter against the Bobcats has the Hawks won by a score of 7-0.
McCool struck out 13 and walked three while facing just 28 batters over the seven innings.
Offensively the Hawks scored two runs after two were out in the bottom of the third inning. Brad McDonald and Phil Keppler each double while Zach McCool and BJ Hermsen made it four straight hits with a pair of singles.
The Hawks scored three more runs in the fourth on single by Jamie Vaske, Garrett Linderwell and a triple by Phil Keppler.
Nate Lahr added a solo home run in the fifth to give the Hawks a 6-0 lead. Phil Keppler drove in his third run of the game with a sixth inning double to score Zach McCool who had walked with one out.
In game two the Hawks could not get their bats going as they had just four hits during the 5-3 loss.
West Delaware had just one big inning, the sixth when they sent nine batters to the plate and scored all three of their runs.
For the game the Hawks were 1 for 13 with runners in scoring position.
On Tuesday night the Hawks traveled to Dubuque Senior for a varsity double header with the Class 4A Rams.
The Hawks banged out 12 hits as they won game one 13-7.
Chris Harbaugh picked up the win as he allowed the seven runs on just seven hits while striking out two batters.
Brad McDonald and Justin Gideon each had three hits for the Hawks, McDonald drove in one run while Gideon had four RBI’s.
Zach McCool went 1 for 4 with 2 RBI’s; BJ Hermsen 2 for 4 with 2 RBI’s. Nate Lahr, Garrett Linderwell and Jamie Vaske each had one hit.
In game two the Hawks picked up a 10-4 win with most of the game one starters on the bench.
Garrett Linderwell picked up his first varsity pitching victory for the Hawks.
The Hawks used four run third and six innings to defeat the Rams.
Tony Brown was the Hawks leading hitter in game two with two hits in four at bats.
On Thursday night it was on to Marion for a much talked about double header with the fifth ranked in Class 3A Indians.
The Hawks came right after the Indians in game one.
After Zach McCool reached on a fielders choice BJ Hermsen double to score McCool. Two batters later Justin Gideon lined a single that scored Ryan Hauser who was running for Hermsen to give the Hawks an early 2-0 lead.
Marion scored what would be their only run of the game on a home run by Matt Holland in the home half of the first inning.
Winning pitcher BJ Hermsen shut down the Indians on two more base hits over the final six innings as the Hawks won by a score of 11-1. He struck out 10 Indian batters during the game.
West Delaware built its lead to 6-1 in the top of the third inning as the first three batters of the inning all reached base and came into score.
The Hawks got three more runs in the fifth inning on consecutive hits by BJ Hermsen, Nate Lahr, Justin Gideon, Jamie Vaske and Alex Ryan.
For the game the Hawks scored their 11 runs on 13 hits. Leading the way were Brad McDonald (1/5), Zach McCool (1/3), BJ Hermsen (2/3), Nate Lahr (1/2), Justin Gideon (3/4) and Alex Ryan (3/4).
In game two the Hawks again jumped out early with a three run first inning.
Brad McDonald, Zach McCool and Justin Gideon each had hits in the Hawks big first inning.
Those three runs would prove to be more than enough for starting and winning pitcher Phil Keppler.
Keppler, like Hermsen in game one, gave up just one run, a first inning home run to the Indians Matt Holland; he also finished with 10 strike outs while allowing just one hit.
With the Hawks holding a 6-1 lead after four innings they put the final nail in the coffin in the fifth inning.
Junior catcher Nate Lahr hit a grand slam home run just left of the 385 foot sign in center field to give put an exclamation mark on the game.
West Delaware Head Coach Mike Morrison was happy with his teams effort and equally happy with the huge turn out of West Delaware fans.
“We had talked about being more focused after the loss to Western Dubuque earlier in the week and I thought that we did come out in both of these games much more focused and aggressive,” commented Morrison.
“Our fan support all year long has been great but to look up there tonight and see that we out numbered their fans by at least 3 to 1 was really tremendous to see. That really means a lot to a team to go on the road and have that kind of overwhelming fan support,” concluded Morrison.
The Hawks will travel to Vinton for a double header toning (Monday) before hosting Waterloo West in a JV, varsity double header on Tuesday night. The Hawks will finish the week with a pair of games at Starmont on Wednesday evening.
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Manchester Press 2005-2006
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