Metro Sports Report

Prairie knocks off Marion, 12-2

Pity the Marion softball girls.

They’re on a seven-game losing streak. One of their three pitchers is done for the season and another is suffering from a painful stress fracture.

And in their final regular-season game Tuesday night, they had a makeup date with the suddenly slugging Prairie Hawks from the powerful Mississippi Valley Conference.

Coming into the contest on Prairie's field, their records were reversed: Prairie 24-12, Marion 12-24.

The night before, Prairie shellacked Dubuque Hempstead, 13-1 and 13-2, in games cut short by the mercy rule.

And before the Marion varsity girls could take the field Tuesday, they watched their junior varsity team get shell-shocked in three innings.

All the signs were there for another blowout.

The Indians did make a game of it, for one inning anyway, until Prairie’s big bats unloaded for 10 runs in the next three innings.

But give the Marion girls credit. With their backs against the wall, they rallied to score twice in the fifth inning and forced the Hawks to take another at-bat in order to win, 12-2.

Saints claim 1st MVC softball crown

There have been many titles won in girls athletics since Cedar Rapids Xavier opened in 1998.

One of the few missing crowns was a Mississippi Valley Conference divisional title in softball. That was crossed off the list Monday night.

The Saints got the sweep they needed to secure the Valley Division championship, downing Cedar Rapids Washington, 15-6 and 7-1, on the Washington diamond.

Xavier, ranked No. 7 in Class 4A, finishes regular-season play at  28-11 overall, 20-6 in the league. Cedar Rapids Prairie, which swept its twinbill against Dubuque Hempstead, finished a game back at 19-7. Washington, which opens Class 5A tournament play Saturday at Cedar Rapids Jefferson, fell to 14-24, 7-19.

Balance has been the key for the Saints and it was again on Monday. Xavier pounded out 29 hits in the two games with every starter collecting at least one hit.

Senior first baseman Jenna Schulte and freshman third baseman Jamie Feltes each had six hits in the twinbill. For Schulte, her big night came at the right time.

"I kinda have been struggling a little bit," she said. "It was nice to come back with a big game."

Split leaves J-Hawks in limbo

Jefferson had to win two games Monday night to guarantee a share of an MVC division softball title.

The J-Hawks fell one short. They beat Iowa City West, 2-0, in their first game, but lost the nightcap, 2-1, at Larry Niemeyer Field.

So now their fate is in the hands of Dubuque Senior.

Senior beat Dubuque Wahlert Monday, 8-0, but its second game with the Golden Eagles was rained out. The Rams have a doubleheader at Waterloo East Tuesday and will make up their game with Wahlert Wednesday. If they win all three, they claim the Mississippi Division championship. With two wins, they tie the J-Hawks.

Jones helps Kernels snap 3-game slide

CLINTON - Tyler Jones was talking on his cell phone after he starred in relief for the Cedar Rapids Kernels Monday night, but he wasn't talking to anyone from Minnesota about a quick jump to the Twins.

He was merely ordering a pizza to be delivered to the ballpark in Clinton, but if he keeps pitching like this he'll be ordering his pizzas at Target Field in Minneapolis some day.

Jones buzzed the LumberKings with 94 and 95 mph fastballs in the eighth and ninth innings as the Kernels snapped their three-game slide with a 5-3 victory over Clinton at Ashford University Field before 712 fans.

The LumberKings put a big bow around the victory and handed it to the Kernels with four errors that led to four unearned runs. Cedar Rapids got its only earned run in the ninth on a double by RBI king Dalton Hicks to make it 5-3, and then Jones put a snappy end to the game in the bottom of the ninth.

"We stole that game, to be honest with you," said Manager Jake Mauer. "We took advantage of their errors. We didn't do much offensively."