Metro Sports Report

Herdliska, Drahozal join MSR softball league

Two more former all-state softball players have joined the new Iowa Women's Softball League, which will begin its first season of competition this May.

Ali Herdliska, who starred at Solon High School, and Erin Drahozal, who starred for the Xavier Saints, are the 18th and 19th players to join the league so far, with many more on the way.

Herdliska, a corner infielder, helped Solon make five straight trips to the state tournament, capped by a state title when she was a senior in 2015. She was a two-time all-state selection and made the all-tournament team at the state meet.

Herdliska enjoyed a tremendous year as a freshman this past season at South Dakota State, where she belted 16 home runs and was named the Summit League Freshman of the Year.

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Drahozal, a pitcher and third baseman, was a three-time all-state selection at Xavier High School. She is now a sophomore at Upper Iowa with a promising future.

The Iowa Women's Softball League has been formed by the Metro Sports Report to give all college players in Iowa, along with all Iowans who are competing at out-of-state schools, a chance to play in a competitive league during the summer.

Xavier girls push No. 9 Johnston

The people who vote in the girls basketball rankings think Johnston has the No. 9 team in Class 5A as the new season begins.

If those rankings are legitimate, it could be good news for the Xavier Saints once the Class 4A postseason tournament rolls around in February.

The Saints made a couple of serious runs at the ninth-ranked Dragons Saturday before falling short, 47-38, in an early non-conference game at Ron Thillen Gymnasium.

The Saints trailed 27-15 at halftime, but they scored the first nine points of the second half to pull within 27-24 on a basket by Amelia Ivester.

Johnston spurted to another 12-point margin at 39-27 early in the fourth period, but the Saints scored seven straight markers to climb within 39-34 on a basket by Lexi Noonan and later crept within 42-38 on two free throws by Emily Jasper with just 2:17 left to play.

Xavier did not get over the hump, but Coach Tom Lilly liked the way his club kept battling against one of the top Class 5A programs in the state.

"It shows we're not willing to step back and accept the fact that we're getting beat and now we'll get beat by 20," he said. "So you have to be pretty encouraged with that."

Hawkeyes had the right character for success

IOWA CITY - Character counts in college football, perhaps more than sheer talent.

For a prime example, look no further than the 2016 Iowa Hawkeyes.

Given up for dead three weeks ago after a 41-14 shellacking at Penn State, the Hawkeyes rebounded by shocking No. 2 Michigan, shutting out Illinois and whipping No. 15 Nebraska.

The Hawkeyes looked like a broken football team after that debacle in Happy Valley, perhaps headed for a late-season meltdown and a losing record. Instead, they buckled down and made it a November to Remember.

Iowa put an exclamation point on the regular season Friday by stomping Nebraska, 40-10, in the Heroes Game at Kinnick Stadium to finish the campaign with an 8-4 overall record and 6-3 mark in the Big Ten West.

The Hawkeyes will finish in a four-way tie for the Big Ten West Division title if Minnesota upsets Wisconsin Saturday. Nobody thought that was remotely possible three weeks ago, and even if Wisconsin beats the Gophers the Hawkeyes will finish in a second-place tie in the West Division with Nebraska.

Iowa Coach Kirk Ferentz said it was a long, unhappy ride home from Penn State three weeks ago, with a lot of soul-searching by coaches and players alike. He knew he had good people in the program, and the way they responded the past three games made him proud.

"You learn a lot about yourselves in November," he said. "I don't know if we could have gone any lower than we did three weeks ago. 

No. 1 Eagles push Indian Hills to limit

Kirkwood guard Byron Harp bent over and put his hands on his knees with two minutes left in Tuesday night's game against Indian Hills at Johnson Hall to grab a quick 10-second breather after a whistle had stopped the frenetic action.

It was just about the only breather the slender point guard got all night.

Harp played all 40 minutes against one of the most talented junior college teams in the Midwest, but his efforts were not quite good enough as the Eagles lost to Indian Hills 67-63 in an entertaining game.

"I feel fine. I can play that much," Harp said after collecting 17 points and seven assists. "I don't actually want to, necessarily, but I had to.

"Coach trusted me, so I appreciate that, but I feel fine," he said. "We've got a nice three-day break coming, so I'll be fine."

Chris King normally shares the load with Harp at point guard, but Coach Bryan Petersen elected not to use King in the ballgame so Harp played from the opening tip to the final horn.

"Asking him to play 40 minutes against Indian Hills, that's a lot," said Petersen. "We were trying to find different times to get him out of the game, but he's playing well and he's the guy we trust out there as our point guard.