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The
Official Newspaper of Manchester and Delaware County, Iowa
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
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Hawks complete regular season with 33-3 record and third straight WaMaC Conference championship
by Ken Boesenberg
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Last Monday night the WaMaC Conference season came to an end for the Hawks of West Delaware, at DeWitt Central.
The Hawks swept the conference twin bill from the Sabers, 15-4 in game one and 9-2 in game two.
With three conference losses the Hawks could only sit back and watch the outcome of the games involving Dyersville Beckman, Marion and Waterloo Columbus.
The Blazers swept the Indians and then lost a 17-15 contest to Waterloo Columbus on Saturday.
With that loss the Hawks moved to the top of the heap of the WaMaC Conference.
Some might say that West Delaware backed into first place. In the end the team with the best record is the team that is on top.
This year that honor went to Coach Mike Morrison and the Hawks of West Delaware. This is the third straight WaMaC title for the Hawks and their fifth in the past seven years.
In game one at DeWitt the Hawks scored three runs in each of the first three innings to hold a 9-4 lead. |
The Hawks Zach McCool (top photo) tags a Cascade runner out trying to steal second while Lucas Kafer (#2 in bottom photo) is greeted at home plate after hitting a home run against the Cougars. The Hawks finished the regular season with 33 wins. |
That would be all the run support that pitchers Lucas Kafer and Alex Ryan would need.
Kafer picked up the win, working 3 2/3 innings with Ryan tossing the final 2 1/3.
The Hawks had 18 hits in the contest, half of those coming from BJ Hermsen (5 for 5) and Phil Keppler (4 for 4).
Chris Harbaugh, Lucas Kafer, and Justin Gideon each had two hits for the Hawks in game one.
In game two, Mitch Mormann tossed a complete game two-hitter as the Hawks won by a score of 9-2.
Nathan King and Justin Gideon collected five of the Hawks nine hits. King went two for three with three runs batted in while Gideon was three for four with two runs scored.
Chris Harbaugh, Phil Keppler, Zach McCool, and Nate Lahr each had a hit for the Hawks in the seven run victory.
The Hawks next five games were all against non-conference opponents.
On Tuesday night the Cougars of Cascade came to Manchester.
When all was said and done the Hawks had picked up a pair of wins, 7-6 and 14-4.
In game one Zach McCool blasted a solo home run in the first inning to give the Hawks an early 1-0 lead.
Lucas Kafer’s two-out single in the second upped the lead to 2-0.
A three-run fourth, highlighted by Lucas Kafer’s two run home run gave the Hawk a 5-0 lead.
Cascade scored a lone run in the fifth and five runs in the top of the sixth to take a 6-5 lead over the Hawks.
In the bottom of the sixth Justin Gideon knotted the game at 6-6 with a lead off solo home run. Dan Marshall reached on a fielders choice and eventually scored what would be the winning run on a Cougar passed ball.
That Hawks had just six hits in the game, two each by Zach McCool and Lucas Kafer and one each by Nate Lahr and Justin Gideon.
Game two was a different story as the Hawk banged out 15 hits on their way to a 14-4 victory.
Zach McCool and Chris Harbaugh combined to toss a four hitter at the Cougars.
Offensively the Hawks were led by a whole host of players. Chris Harbaugh had three hits in four trips to the plate. Five Hawks had two hits each; Phil Keppler, Zach McCool, BJ Hermsen, Garrett Linderwell and Lucas Kafer.
Linderwell and Kafer hit back-to-back home runs for the Hawks in the second inning.
On Thursday night West Delaware hosted the Indians of Waukon.
The Hawks pounded out 20 hits in the 10-3 and 8-3 double header sweep of the Indians.
West Delaware scored the first run of the game on back-to-back doubles by Chris Harbaugh and Phil Keppler to take a 1-0 first inning lead.
The Hawks sent 11 batters to the plate in the second inning as they scored seven runs to put the game away for winning pitcher Justin Gideon.
Of the Hawks 13 hits in game one, seven were for extra bases.
Phil Keppler, Zach McCool, BJ Hermsen, and Justin Gideon each had two hits for the Hawks.
In game two the Hawks blasted five home runs as they defeated the Indians 8-3.
Collecting home runs for the Hawks were Phil Keppler, BJ Hermsen, Nate Lahr, Garrett Linderwell and Lucas Kafer.
Garrett Linderwell was the only Hawk with more than one hit, he had two hits.
On Friday the Hawks traveled to Fayette and the campus of Upper Iowa University for a non-conference contest with Denison Schleswig.
The game was a good one with the Hawks coming home with a 2-1 victory, their 33rd win of the season against just three losses.
BJ Hermsen tossed seven innings of two-hit ball, striking out 10 to pick up the victory.
Nate Lahr gave the Hawks an early 1-0 lead in the second inning with a solo home run.
Hermsen upped that lead to 2-0 with a solo blast leading off the fourth inning.
Denison scored a lone run in the sixth to make the final score 2-1.
The Hawks will be idle this week until Friday when they travel to Farley to take on Oelwein in a first round Class 3A district tournament contest.
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West Delaware girls take Independence Tournament title
by Ken Boesenberg |
The West Delaware girls softball team split with DeWitt Central last Monday night in Manchester, losing game one 5-2 and winning game two 7-1.
The split was enough to give the Hawks the WaMaC Conference softball title with a record of 15-1 thus far.
They had a conference double header with Waterloo Columbus last night (Monday) in Waterloo.
The Hawks got both of their runs in the first game in the bottom of the first inning.
Katlyn Heiserman reached on an error and stole second. Lindsey McDowell walked and both came into score when the Sabers misplayed Jenny Hood’s fly ball to left field.
DeWitt scored a run in the top of the third and another run in the top of the sixth to tie the score at 2-2.
The Sabers scored their final three runs in the top of the seventh to send the Hawks to just their fifth defeat of the season, 5-2.
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The Hawks Katie Murphy delivers a pitch during the Hawks 5-4 win over Independence last Saturday. Murphy now has 99 career victories and should become only the fourth West Delaware player to reach 100 career wins this week. |
The Hawks had just four hits in the game, one each by Katie Wessels and Sara Hermsen. Katlyn Heiserman had a pair of hits for the Hawks.
In game two the Hawks took care of business as they kept the pressure on the Sabers from the opening pitch to the final out.
West Delaware scored a pair of runs in the second inning on singles by Katie Murphy, Katie Wessels and Kayla Bries.
Katie Murphy led off the fourth inning with a double and to account for the Hawks third run of the game.
The Hawks stretched their lead to 5-1 in the fifth on base hits by Katlyn Heiserman, Lindsey McDowell and Jenny Hood.
The final two runs of the game crossed the plate in the top of the seventh when the Hawks banged out four hits.
Katlyn Heiserman had a double while Jenny Hood, Katie Murphy and Katie Wessels all singled in the inning.
Winning pitcher, Katie Murphy gave up two hits and struck out six in picking up career victory number 95.
On Friday and Saturday the Hawks played in the Independence Tournament where they won four straight games to capture the team title.
Game one in the tournament was against Postville where the Hawks won easily, 12-1.
The Hawks pounded out 18 hits against the Pirates, Jenny Hood led the way with four hits.
Katlyn Heiserman, Ashley Hood and Katie Murphy each had two hits. Murphy was the winning pitcher, giving up one hit while striking out nine batters.
The Hawks defeated Dubuque Wahlert, 4-0 in their second game on Friday.
The Hawks scored two runs in the second and third innings to back the no-hit 10 strike out pitching of Katie Murphy.
Jenna Hermsen tossed the final two innings of the game and gave up just one hit.
On Saturday the Hawks first disposed of Wapsie Valley 14-0 to advance to the championship contest.
The win over Wapsie avenged one of the Hawks five losses on the season, 2-0 at Jesup in the Jesup Tournament.
West Delaware scored three runs in the third and six more in the fourth to coast to the five inning victory.
Getting hits for the Hawks against Wapsie Valley were Ashley Hood 3, Kayla Bries 2, Haleigh Klein 1, Lindsey McDowell 1, Jenny Hood 1, Katie Murphy 1, Abby Flannagan 1, Katlyn Heiserman 1, Allison Pasker 1, Renee Bockenstedt 1.
The Hawks held off a late rally by host Independence to claim the championship game, 5-4 over the Mustangs.
haleigh Klein led the Hawks with three hits while Abby Flannagan and Katie Murphy had two hits each.
Hawk second baseman, Kayla Bries pulled off a game ending double play to secure the win for the Hawks.
The Hawks had three all-tournament team selections in Katlyn Heiserman, Abby Flannagan and Katie Murphy.
Murphy won all four games in the tournament, she now has 99 career victories.
One more victory will make Murphy just the fourth West Delaware pitcher to record 100 career wins.
The others are Candi Letts 1975-79, 188-33; Kathy Lammers 1984-88, 142-43; and Staci Lammers 1992-96, 114-51.
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