Xavier High School - Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Daniels, 14, shows her stuff in GTL

NORTH LIBERTY - Caitlynn Daniels is only 14 years old, but she's already playing basketball against college girls in the Game Time League and loving every minute of it.

Daniels will be a freshman at Xavier this year and it's probably a good idea to remember her name. She's already received a recruiting letter from Iowa Coach Lisa Bluder and many more are sure to follow.

Daniels made her debut in the Game Time League Wednesday night in a game that featured three Iowa Hawkeyes at the North Liberty Recreation Center. If you didn't know Daniels just graduated from Regis Middle School last month, you would have guessed she was much older and perhaps a college kid herself.

"I thought she held her own," said Maggie O'Connell, an assistant coach at Xavier who is also her head coach in the Game Time League. "Obviously her conditioning helped her in that respect. She hardly turned the ball over and played pretty solid defense. Good for her."

Daniels, who is a natural point guard with excellent ballhandling skills, played most of the game at a wing position, but O'Connell moved her to the point in the fourth quarter and Daniels showed what she could do with her passing and leadership.

"I was a little nervous at first, but once the game got going it wasn't that scary," she said.

Daniels took only two shots and missed them both, but she collected two assists and two rebounds and made an important contribution as her McCurry's/Vinton Merchants nipped L.L. Pelling, 86-85, on a 3-pointer by Iowa's Alexis Sevillian at the buzzer.

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Xavier softball clipped by No. 1 Carlisle

CARLISLE - The Xavier Saints lost to top-ranked Carlisle, 10-2, in the Class 4A regional finals in Carlisle Tuesday night.

Carlisle advances to the Class 4A state softball tournament in Fort Dodge next week with a 36-6 record. The Saints ended their season with an 18-25 record.

Carlisle was the visiting team on its own field after losing the coin flip and they took a quick 1-0 lead when leadoff batter Agatha Beier smacked a home run. Carlisle scored another run in the top of the first for a 2-0 lead.

Xavier battled right back in the bottom of the first when Charlotte Richards got a base hit and Katie Langholz belted a two-run homer to right-center field to tie the game, 2-2.

It was still tied 2-2 after two innings, but Carlisle scored two runs in the third inning for a 4-2 lead and began pulling away from there.

Langholz went 2-for-3 for the Saints.

Xavier won two road games in the regional tournament, beating Vinton-Shellsburg in the quarterfinals and topping Pella in the semifinals.

Saints roll into 3A baseball playoffs

The Xavier Saints should be a confident baseball team when they enter the Class 3A district tournament Friday night.

The Saints ended the regular season on another high note Monday with a 7-3 victory over Clinton in a non-conference game at Ken Charipar Field.

The Saints have won nine of their last 11 games after a rugged start, but they'll need all the confidence they can muster in the 3A playoffs.

Xavier (12-22-1) will face DeWitt Central (28-10) in the district opener Friday at approximately 7 p.m. in DeWitt, and waiting in the wings in the district finals is top-ranked Davenport Assumption.

If the Saints handle all that, they could face another tough opponent in the substate finals for a trip to the state tournament.

Xavier collected a methodical victory over Clinton Monday with a 12-hit attack and solid pitching from Adam Tvedt and Sam Meyers. Tvedt struck out eight batters and allowed three runs in five innings for the victory, then Meyers tossed two scoreless frames to finish the game.

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Saints earn date with No. 1 softball team

PELLA - The road warriors from Xavier High School struck again Saturday night.

The Saints nipped Pella, 3-2, in the semifinals of the Class 4A regional softball tournament in Pella for their second straight victory on the road in the postseason.

Xavier blanked Vinton-Shellsburg, 3-0, in the regional quarterfinals Thursday night to begin the postseason.

Xavier (18-24) will face top-ranked Carlisle (35-6) in the regional finals Tuesday at 7 p.m. at Carlisle, with the winner earning a spot in the state tournament. Carlisle is located southeast of Des Moines, about a two-hour drive from Cedar Rapids.

Saturday's game against Pella was tied, 1-1, after seven innings. The Saints scored twice in the top of the eighth for a 3-1 lead and Pella responded with a single tally in the bottom of the eighth before Maria Steffen got the final out for Xavier.

Steffen tossed a complete game for the Saints. She allowed only five hits and one earned run, with two strikeouts and one walk.

Steph Wehr went 2-for-3 and drove in two runs for Xavier. Olivia Richards, Katie Langholz, Jamie Feltes and Hannah Williams also had two hits in the 10-hit attack.

Olivia Richards, Jenae Marshall and Feltes scored runs for the Saints. Charlotte Richards had a big RBI. Feltes and Wehr hit doubles.

Pella took a 1-0 lead in the third inning, but Xavier tied the game in the fifth. Pella finished with a 15-19 record.