Metro Sports Report

Ex-Kernel returns and beats former team

Christian Powell remembers the date like it was yesterday, even though it happened more than a year ago during the 2014 season in Cedar Rapids.

"May 11th. A rainout with Peoria," he said Sunday.

That was the day Kernels Manager Jake Mauer told Powell that the Minnesota Twins had decided to give him his unconditional release from baseball. In other words, he was fired.

"To be honest with you, I kind of felt it coming the whole year," he said. "I just felt off. I just wasn't pitching very well.

"I expected it to happen, which is kind of a bad thing and probably didn't help the way I was performing. It got into my head too much."

Powell signed with the Houston Astros as a free agent this March and was assigned to the Quad Cities River Bandits, putting him back in the Class A Midwest League with the Kernels.

Washington splits softball twinbill

The Cedar Rapids Washington softball team split a Mississippi Valley Conference doubleheader with Waterloo East on Monday at Franklin Field.

Waterloo East won the first game, 5-3. The Warriors rebounded with a 7-5 victory in the nightcap.

Dana Riley went 2-for-3 and belted a home run for Washington in the opener. Brady Packingham was 2-for-3 with two RBIs.

Riley went 2-for-3 with two RBIs and belted another home run in the second game. Caiti Peterson was 2-for-3. Emily Oler was the winning pitcher.

The split left Washington at 12-14 overall and 7-11 in the conference. Waterloo East is 11-15 overall and 6-12 in the league.

Steepleton tosses shutout for Marion

CENTER POINT - Alicia Steepleton pitched a five-hit shutout Monday night as the Marion Indians blanked Center Point-Urbana, 3-0, in the first game of a Wamac Conference doubleheader.

Center Point-Urbana won the second game, 5-1.

Steepleton struck out five batters and walked only one in the 3-0 shutout. Sydney Nielsen went 3-for-3 with two RBIs to pace the offense.

Haley Dullea and Maddie Knapp had two hits for Marion in the second game.

Hot Saints win Linn-Mar tourney

The closer Nikki Gahring comes to giving birth to her own child, the better her kids on the Xavier softball team keep playing.

The Saints finished an impressive week by topping Center Point-Urbana, 8-6, in the championship game of the Linn-Mar softball tournament Saturday afternoon.

Xavier swept Linn-Mar on Tuesday, swept Cedar Falls on Thursday, won two games in the Linn-Mar tournament Friday and won two more games Saturday for eight victories in five days.

The Saints, now riding a nine-game winning streak, have raised their record to 17-9 as they get closer to the postseason and closer to Gahring's due date in two weeks.

The Saints beat some good teams in the Linn-Mar tournament with a 2-1 victory over Waverly-Shell Rock (ranked No. 8 in Class 4A), a 2-1 victory over Linn-Mar (ranked No. 10 in 5A last week) and the 8-6 verdict over Center Point-Urbana (ranked No. 7 in Class 3A).