Metro Sports Report

Easy win is music to Xavier's ears

Zach Barish and Tom Pudil are helping the Xavier Saints play some sweet music this season.

Barish and Pudil are members of the Xavier football team that is ranked No. 1 in Class 3A with a 6-0 record after dismantling Independence, 45-0, Friday night in a district game at Saints Field.

They're also members of the delightful Xavier marching band that performs at halftime during home games, trading their shoulder pads and helmets for musical instruments while their teammates head to the locker room for a break.

On some days they have band practice before school, football practice after school and more band practice after football.

"Some days you get up about 5 and get home about 10," said Pudil, a 230-pound lineman who plays the trumpet. "You just have to make time. You've got to do it all to support your team, both the band group and the football team.

"Sometimes you lose sleep, but you have to do it for the group."

Barish and Pudil helped the Saints roll by Independence, but their weekend performances are hardly finished. They'll both perform in the Five Seasons Invitational marching band contest at Kingston Stadium Saturday afternoon, then they'll put on their dress clothes and play at the homecoming dance Saturday night.

MSR launching women's softball league

I was talking to a friend whose daughter plays college softball and asked him where she planned to play softball during the summer once her college season was over.

His answer surprised me.

As it turned out, there were no women's fast-pitch softball leagues during the summer in Iowa this year for players to sharpen their skills and enjoy some friendly competition.

Well, there is now.

I am delighted to announce that the Metro Sports Report will be launching a new women's league next summer for all players who are currently on fast-pitch college softball teams in Iowa and for all Iowans who are playing at out-of-state schools.

This includes graduating seniors who may want to continue playing next summer, but it does not include any high school players who have not begun their collegiate careers.

We have secured four generous sponsors to help us pay our bills and we have two high-quality softball fields to host the games at Kirkwood Community College and Coe College in Cedar Rapids. Now we need to begin attracting the players.

The registration process begins right now (CLICK HERE TO REGISTER). You can register online and use PayPal to pay the $100 player fee, or you can simply mail the registration form and a check to me (Jim Ecker) at the Metro Sports Report at 2803 Q Ave NW, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, 52405.

Kuba claims first spot in softball league

It took Erin Kuba only a few hours to read about our new women's collegiate summer softball league when the program was announced last Tuesday and send in her registration form.

That made Kuba, a Cedar Rapids Jefferson grad, the first person to enroll in the program and get the ball rolling. She was joined shortly after by Peyton Baskerville and Tianna Drahn, a  pair of Cedar Rapids Kennedy grads who have now sent in their materials.

And off we go.

Our goal is to enroll 64 college softball players in the program, assign them to four teams and begin play next summer at Kirkwood and Coe on 10 straight Sundays from late May through late July. And based on the early response, we should be able to reach our goal in a fairly short period of time.

(CLICK HERE TO REGISTER)

The new program is intended for all active fast-pitch softball players at Iowa colleges, along with all Iowans who are playing at out-of-state schools. And it's also intended for all levels of collegiate softball, which makes our first three players so interesting.

Kuba is a freshman at Indian Hills Community College, which is an NJCAA program. Baskerville is a freshman at Mount Mercy University, which competes at the NAIA level. And Drahn is a  freshman at the University of Northern Iowa, which is an NCAA Division I school.

Rocca helps Saints rock 3A foes

The last thing Xavier Coach Duane Schulte told his players following their victory at Decorah last Friday was to make sure they volunteered as sand-baggers over the weekend to help fight the flood back home.

Lineacker John Rocca and the rest of the Saints took it seriously.

Rocca helped with the sand-bagging efforts at one of his coach's apartment complex, then he helped a teammate's family that lives in the affected area, then he went out to Palo to help there.

"I'd say the majority of us were downtown helping out," he said Tuesday. "We were all spread out."

Rocca lives in Marion, well out of harm's way, but said all of the Saints wanted to pitch in. "We're all together as a community," he remarked.

The Saints are a tight-knit group, on the field and off, and it's one of the reasons they are enjoying another fine season this year.

Xavier has a 5-0 record and is ranked No. 1 in Class 3A heading into Friday night's homecoming game against Independence, which has an 0-5 record and has scored only one touchdown all year.

The Saints are 3-0 in district games, outscoring their district opponents 120-27 in three blowout victories. South Tama, Waverly-Shell Rock, Charles City and Benton Community are all tied for second place in the district at 2-1. Only the top two teams from the district are assured of making the playoffs.