Prairie High School - Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Carter's slam keys Prairie sweep

Gabi Carter had a grand slam in the opener and Amanda Pipolo had seven hits in the twinbill as Prairie swept visiting Dubuque Wahlert, 12-0 and 8-1, on Thursday night at Prairie.

Pipolo also had seven stolen bases in the two games. Kristin Wahlert had two hits, three runs scored, two RBIs and two stolen bases in the opener. Natalie Halverson got the win, striking out four in three innings.

In Game 2, Pipolo was 4-for-4 with two RBIs. Carter had two hits, including a double. Halverson and Shelby Fredrick, who pitched the final inning of the opener, combined for a one-hit shutout.

Prairie is 4-4 overall, 4-2 in the MVC. The Golden Eagles fell to 1-10, 0-6.

Xavier twins, Jasper in state semifinals

Xavier's twin sister duo of Claire and Jeanne Bouchard, along with teammate Allison Jasper, advanced to the semifinals on Thursday in Class 1A state girls tennis tournament at Ankeny.

The Bouchards had a tough road to the semifinals. In the first round, they needed a first-set tiebreaker win before pulling away in the second set to win 7-6, 6-1 over Creston/Orient Macksburg's Caitlin McIlravy and Sydney Dunphy.

Three sets were needed for the twins to advance through the quarterfinals against Ryan Petievich and Hanna Schoning of Spirit Lake/Okoboji. The Bouchards prevailed, 6-2, 4-6, 7-5.

They will meet Red Oak's Micayla Taylor and Grace Blomstedt in a 10 a.m. semifinal match.

Jasper, the No. 3 seed, had a much easier time advancing to the semifinals. She lost just three games in wins over Osage's Amber Schwarting (6-0, 6-0) and Haley Schneiderman of Aplington-Parkersburg (6-1, 6-2).

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Beckman, Rima pace Prairie baseball

Trey Beckman and Jalen Rima both went 3-for-4 Wednesday night as the Prairie Hawks downed Clinton, 9-2, in a non-conference baseball game at Prairie.

The Hawks raised their record to 6-1.

Beckman and Tyler Nunemaker drove in two runs. Rima scored two runs. Ben Boldt went 2-for-3.

JP Havel-Pisarik was the winning pitcher. Keegan Sanborn collected a save.

Clinton    000 200 0 - 2 7 3
Prairie    212 202 x - 9 12 0

W - Havel-Pisarik. L - Harris. S - Sanborn.

Kea steers Prairie to substate finals

Dave Kea did not know all of his players' names at Cedar Rapids Prairie when he became the new head coach of the girls soccer team on the eve of the 2015 season in April.

Doug Graham, who recruited Kea to coach the goal-keepers this year, stepped aside as the head coach just a few days before the season began and Kea was thrust into the job.

He was still learning their names and suddenly he was the boss.

"I still have trouble," Kea admitted Wednesday night. "I sometimes call them the wrong name, but they understand."

Winning helps.

The Hawks made a smooth transition to their new coach and are now one victory away from reaching the Class 3A state tournament for the first time in school history.

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