Metro Sports Report

Czerwiec shines again for Fairfax

WALFORD - It won't be necessary to wait until the season is over to name the Pitcher of the Year in the Iowa Valley League.

They can give it to Austin Czerwiec right now.

Czerwiec tossed a two-hitter Sunday and raised his record to 6-0 as Fairfax topped Walford, 4-1, in the first game of their doubleheader at Walford.

Fairfax took the second game, 8-1, and now has a three-game lead in the Iowa Valley League standings at 11-1 with four weeks left in the campaign.

Czerwiec, who pitched at Mount Mercy, has pitched six times for Fairfax in the first six weeks of the season and he's won every time.

Alex Hayden and Adam Lloyd had RBI singles for Fairfax in the first game.

Fairfax scored eight runs in the bottom of the sixth inning of the  second game to erase a 1-0 deficit and prevail 8-1. Cody Bell picked up the victory in relief.

Softball games are smash hit on KCRG 9.2

College softball players rarely get a chance to play their games on live TV, but that changed Sunday at Coe College.

The doubleheader between Construction Materials and Hawkeye Convenience Stores in the new Iowa Women's Softball League was  televised by KCRG 9.2 to a live audience in Eastern Iowa.

From all accounts, it was a smash hit.

The college athletes got a chance to showcase their skills on TV, the folks at KCRG 9.2 got a good show for their viewers, and the softball league got some terrific exposure.

Construction Materials swept the twinbill, 7-6 and 8-1.

Hawkeye Convenience Stores jumped out to a 6-0 lead after two innings in the first game, but Construction Materials scored five runs in the third inning to pull within 6-5.

It stayed that way until Alyssa Wiebel of Illinois State belted a  two-run homer to left-center in the fifth inning to give Construction Materials a 7- 6 lead and the victory.

Big innings lift Walford to sweep

WATKINS - The Walford Hogs came into Sunday's doubleheader with Watkins at the bottom of the Iowa Valley League standings.

Coach Kevin Moser has had to juggle his roster for a variety of reasons and it showed as the Hogs got off to a 1-7 start through the  first four weeks of league play.

That changed on Sunday. Walford used a five-run fourth-inning outburst in the opener to post a 6-1 win, then rallied from a 7-2 deficit in the nightcap, scoring six again in the fifth inning en route to an 11-7 triumph at Gabe Kuester Memorial Ball Park.

After a pair of tough losses last week at home to Red Top, the Hogs showed Sunday they will be a force as the second half of the league schedule begins next week.

"A lot of these guys are college ballplayers and they know how to fight and never give up," Moser said.

The roster has changed quite a bit since the opening week of the season. Moser admitted it was tough to build any real team chemistry.

Fairfax sweeps twinbill from Norway

WALFORD - Fairfax continued its dream season Sunday by sweeping a doubleheader from the Norway Bandits in Walford.

Fairfax won both games by a single run, taking the opener 1-0 and prevailing 7-6 in the nightcap in eight innings.

Fairfax reached the halfway point of the Iowa Valley League season with a 9-1 record, good for a two-game lead over Red Top.

Austin Czerwiec tossed a five-hit shutout for Fairfax in the 1-0  victory in the first game for his fifth victory of the season. Walker Breard had an RBI double in the first inning for the only run in the  well-played game, driving in Cody Williams.

Jordan Hanlon pitched a four-hitter for Norway. JT Sole had two hits for the Bandits.

The second game was tied, 5-5, after seven innings. Norway took a 6-5 lead in the top of the eighth, but Fairfax responded with two runs in the bottom of the eighth for the victory.