Metro Sports Report

No. 5 Eagles sweep twinbill in softball

The Kirkwood Eagles climbed from No.11 to No.5 in the national softball rankings Wednesday and celebrated by sweeping a doubleheader from Southwestern Community College, 9-1 and 11-2, at the Kirkwood field.

Both games lasted only five innings.

Kirkwood raised its records to 36-5 overall and 15-1 in the ICCAC conference. Southwestern fell to 11-14 overall and 5-9 in the league.

Alicia Crivaro, Taylor Wise and Erin Weno hit home runs for Kirkwood in the first game. Wise drove in three runs and Chasney Jenkins had two RBIs.

Flannagan belts 2 game-winning homers

Most ballplayers dream about hitting a game-winning home run for their team.

Abby Flannagan did it twice Wednesday.

Coe swept Simpson, 1-0 and 2-1 in 10 innings, thanks to Flannagan's clutch hitting and outstanding pitching by Maddison Woodruff and Arran Weeces.

The first game was tied, 0-0, in the bottom of the sixth inning when Flannagan socked her third homer of the season for a 1-0 lead. Woodruff put the finishing touches on her one-hitter in the top of the seventh for the 1-0 triumph.

Kernels top Loons to reach .500

MIDLAND, Mich. - The Kernels topped the Great Lakes Loons, 5-3, Wednesday night before 974 fans at Dow Diamond.

Aaron Slegers led the way with his second consecutive strong start and the Kernels tallied the first run of the game for the first time in 2014.

Slegers (1-0) went six innings in the win, allowing only a single run on four hits. He struck out six and walked none. In two starts this season, the 6-foot-10 righthander has struck out a combined 11 hitters and walked none.

The Kernels (3-3) scored first in a game for the first time this season by jumping out to a 2-0 lead in the second inning. The team had fallen behind in all of the previous five games this year.

Mitch Garver powered a two-run home run over the wall in left field to put Cedar Rapids up by a pair. The shot scored Michael Quesada, who had walked to begin the inning.

Pairings set for Metro baseball tourney

The annual Bob Vrbicek Metro Baseball Tournament will have a new format this season.

Instead of being held on three consecutive days in May, this year's tournament will be a two-day affair with the first two rounds scheduled for Monday, May 26 and the final round scheduled for Tuesday, May 27.

Monday's games will be played at the Xavier and Jefferson diamonds. Tuesday's championship and third-place games will be played at Veterans Memorial Stadium, with the fifth-place and seventh-place games at Xavier.