Metro Sports Report

Cougars stun No.1 Lions for state berth

Kennedy’s Carly Langhurst picked the exact right time to score her very first goal of the season.

With time winding down in a do-or-die dual at undefeated and top-ranked Linn-Mar Monday night, the sophomore defender sped from one end of the field to the other and tapped in the game’s only score.

She seized the moment and sent the Cougars to the Class 3A state tournament Thursday in Des Moines at the Cownie Soccer Park.

It was an evenly contested match, played mostly 20 yards on either side of midfield, with neither team giving an inch. But with three minutes left in a scoreless tie, Langhurst fielded a free ball 70 yards from her own goal and took off dribbling downfield.

Sweeney goes 0-for-2 against Kernels

GENEVA, Ill. - Cedar Rapids native Ryan Sweeney went 0-for-2 with a walk in his rehab assignment for the Kane County Cougars against the Cedar Rapids Kernels Monday night.

Sweeney, a Major Leaguer with the Chicago Cubs, is recovering from a pulled hamstring muscle that's had him on the Disabled List since May 3. Monday night's game was his first rehab assignment on his road back to the Cubs.

The Kernels wasted a strong performance by Kohl Stewart and lost to the Cougars, 2-1, in a Class A Midwest League game before 4,104 fans at Fifth Third Bank Ballpark.

Stewart (1-3, 2.82 ERA) allowed only two hits and two runs (one earned) in six innings. Kane County scored twice in the fourth inning and it held up for the victory.

Daniels tosses 3rd shutout for Cougars

Zach Daniels is off to a terrific start for the Kennedy High School baseball team this season.

Daniels tossed a six-hit shutout Monday night as the third-ranked Cougars blanked Prairie, 6-0, on Junior Cougars Night at Bill Herkelman Field.

Daniels began the season with a masterful one-hit shutout against Mitch Keller and the Xavier Saints in the Metro Tournament. He followed that with a 1-0 shutout of then-No.2 Iowa City West and now he's added the Prairie Hawks to his trophy case.

"It feels good, knowing that our team is there to back me up, because that's mostly what's happened," said Daniels. "I've been throwing strikes and they've been making plays behind me.

No.9 Prairie reaches end of line

DUBUQUE – Twelve months ago, the Cedar Rapids Prairie Hawks were a 5-13 team that couldn't get into a regional final unless they bought a ticket.They were playing a figurative million miles from the Iowa state tournament.

Even comparing the two team photos, you wouldn't recognize these kids a year later.

“It was their commitment to each other” that made the Hawks' 180 possible, new coach Doug Graham said Monday night.