Metro Sports Report

No. 1 Cougars nip J-Hawks for Metro title

If the Kennedy Cougars are truly the No. 1 baseball team in Class 4A this year, then the Jefferson J-Hawks must by No. 1A.

Round 1 went to the Cougars Wednesday night, by a whisker.

Sammy Lizarraga ripped a game-winning single with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth inning to give Kennedy a dramatic 5-4 victory over Jefferson in the championship game of the Bob Vrbicek Metro Tournament.

Lizarraga said he's never had a bigger hit in his career, not even when the Junior Cougars won the USSSA World Series a few years ago.

"That was a big one," he said after his walk-off screamer to right-center. "Senior year, Metro tournament. That was a lot of fun."

Warriors nip Hawks, reach state semis

Washington sophomores Kelly King and Hannah Sherman were way late for their soccer team’s match at Iowa City West Wednesday night. Once again.

They figure they’ve missed the start of about half of the Warriors’ games this year, but always with a good excuse.

Rare two-sport athletes in the same season, King and Sherman spent four hours on tennis courts in Cedar Rapids Wednesday afternoon and into the evening.

Both were key players in Washington’s hard-fought 5-3 win over a tough Prairie squad in the quarterfinals of the Class 2A state team tennis tournament played at both Jefferson High School and the Veterans Memorial Tennis Center.

Each of them won her singles match handily.

Paige, Tar Heels visit UNI Nov. 21

Marcus Paige and the North Carolina Tar Heels will play a basketball game against the University of Northern Iowa at the McLeod Center in Cedar Falls on Saturday, Nov. 21.

Paige and UNI guard Matt Bohannon were teammates at Linn-Mar High School when the Lions won the Class 4A state title with a 26-0 record in 2011.

Northern Iowa will play two games at North Carolina in 2016 and 2017.

North Carolina Coach Roy Williams like to give all his players a chance to play a road game against a team from their home state, which led to the series with Northern Iowa.

Kernels bite Timber Rattlers, 7-3

With two of the best starting pitchers in the Midwest League facing off Wednesday night, the 2,237 fans who showed up to watch the Kernels take on the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers had every right to expect a pitchers’ duel.

That didn’t exactly happen, though, as the Kernels topped the visitors 7-3 at Veterans Memorial Stadium.

Cedar Rapids starter Felix Jorge (3-2) entered Wednesday with the MWL's 10th best earned run average at 2.13. He did not have nearly his best night on the mound, but he limited Wisconsin to three runs on five hits over six innings.

It was the seventh time in eight starts that Jorge has given the Kernels at least six innings of mound work.

Jorge certainly out-dueled his Wisconsin counterpart, Cy Sneed, who held the seventh best ERA mark in the league at 1.81 entering the night. Sneed gave up four runs in just four innings before being pulled.