Metro Sports Report

Kirkwood signs 11 new softball players

Joe Yegge digs the long ball, but he also likes softball players who can run.

The Kirkwood coach thinks he may have sacrificed a little power to get more speed in his new recruiting class of high school seniors for the 2015 campaign, but that's OK with him.

Kirkwood led all Division II junior colleges in the country last season with 104 home runs on its way to the semifinals of the national tournament and a 57-5 record. Yegge thinks there are power hitters in the new class, but perhaps not as many.

Franklin joins 1,000 Club at Washington

Dani Franklin has become the seventh member of the 1,000 Point Club for the Cedar Rapids Washington girls basketball program during the five-player era.

Franklin passed the 1,000-point mark last Saturday against Marshalltown and raised her total to 1,038 Tuesday night against Dubuque Wahlert.

Franklin is now sixth on the school scoring list behind Stacy Frese (1,477), Marsha Frese (1,393), Katelin Oney (1,314), Brenda Frese (1,271) and Alyssa Green (1,110). The seventh member of the club is Kayla Pirtle (1,033).

Franklin, a senior, will play college basketball at Valparaiso University. She is averaging 22.2 points for the 10th-ranked Warriors (13-3) and leads all Class 5A players in scoring.

Olson helps Eagles top prep school

Taylor Olson led the Mississippi Valley Conference in floor burns during his playing days at Cedar Rapids Jefferson High School. He’s doing the same thing for the Kirkwood Eagles.

The 6-foot-2 sophomore did a pretty good job filling out a stat line Wednesday night at Johnson Hall, leading the Eagles to a 67-55 win over ABCD Prep Academy of Des Moines with 12 points, six assists, four steals and untold hustle plays.

Olson takes pride in his work ethic and hustle.

“I try to be,” he said. “Especially in games like that. We needed a spark from somewhere and I felt like I needed to step up and do that tonight.”

Tirone shines as RoughRiders get shutout

The Cedar Rapids RoughRiders crowded around Danny Tirone and gleefully pounded him on the head Wednesday night. When the celebration ended, the 19-year-old goalie skated down the ice and acknowledged the cheers from 2,550 fans at the Ice Arena.

He deserved all the tributes he could get.

Tirone stopped 18 shots and gave the RoughRiders their first shutout of the USHL season in a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Des Moines.

"It was great," said Tirone, calling it a total team effort. "The offense was going, the defense was going. The defense made it pretty easy for me. They blocked so many shots."