Metro Sports Report

Bell helps Kennedy clinch No.1 seed

IOWA CITY - Cedar Rapids Kennedy junior Cody Bell acknowledges that he sometimes has a problem with stepping in the bucket when he's at the plate.

In the second game of a doubleheader against Iowa City High on Wednesday night, Bell put that problem to rest.

Belting a home run and two doubles, Bell collected six RBIs and helped No.5 Kennedy take care of City High in five innings, 13-0, at Mercer Park.

City High won the opener, 6-5.

These games had substate implications. By gaining a split, Kennedy (23-7, 16-4) clinched the No.1 seed in Substate 3 when Xavier split its doubleheader with Dubuque Hempstead Wednesday.

Blaha tosses no-hitter as Prairie nips Marion

Mackenzie Blaha pitched a no-hitter with 10 strikeouts Wednesday night as Cedar Rapids Prairie nipped Marion, 1-0, in a non-conference softball game at Prairie.

Blaha had a perfect game through five innings. She walked a batter in the sixth inning and hit a batter in the seventh.

Taylor Stecklein drove in Shelby Crist with an RBI single in the third inning for the only run. Stecklein had two hits for the Hawks (12-19).

Mikayla Goemaat pitched a four-hitter for Marion (14-17) with one walk and two strikeouts.

MARION (0)
Scott, rf, 3 0 0 0, Smith, cf, 3 0 0 0, Knapp, 1b, 3 0 0 0, Mohr, ss, 2 0 0 0, Perkins, cf, 3 0 0 0, Rausch, 3b, 2 0 0 0, Nathem, lf, 1 0 0 0, Goemaat, p, 2 0 0 0, Banes, 2b, 2 0 0 0. Totals 21 0 0 0.

PRAIRIE (1)
Crist, c, 3 1 1 0, T. Stecklein, 2b, 3 0 2 1, Wieland, ss, 3 0 0 0, Blaha, p, 2 0 0 0, O'Brian, dp, 2 0 0 0, Carver, cf, 2 0 0 0, Lash, rf, 2 0 0 0, Frederick, 1b, 2 0 1 0, A. Stecklein, 3b, 2 0 0 0, C. Lueck, lf, 0 0 0 0. Totals 21 1 4 1.

Marion     000 000 0 - 0 0 1
Prairie    001 000 x - 1 4 0

Goemaat and Perkins. Blaha and Crist. W - Blaha. L - Goemaat.

Marion's Fish notches his 500th victory

Over the past 23 years as a high school baseball coach, Marion’s Steve Fish has had plenty of wins that were more polished than the one Tuesday night over Cascade.

Yet few have been as sweet.

With an 11-1 six-inning comeback that was really tighter than the score might indicate, the injury-depleted but scrappy Indians found a way to hand their beloved coach his 500th career victory.

Fish, 50, now joins an elite list of just 53 other Iowa coaches to reach that milestone.

“It’s an honor to be in that group,” he said. “But, in reality, what it means is that I’ve had a lot of assistant coaches who are just as passionate about the game as I am.

“And I’ve had a lot of good players who have been passionate about baseball.”

No.14 Saints overpower Lions in MVC twinbill

Erin Drahozal is just an eighth grader. She hasn't taken a single class at Xavier High School yet and doesn't know her way around the school.

"I'm hoping some of the freshmen can help me out," she said Tuesday night.

She knows her way around a softball field just fine, however.

Drahozal pitched a six-hit shutout as the 14th-ranked Saints smothered Linn-Mar, 13-0, to sweep a Mississippi Valley Conference doubleheader at the Linn-Mar field.

Xavier won the first game, 10-0, in five innings behind a three-hit shutout by sophomore Jaycee Wiebold.

The Saints hit seven home runs in the doubleheader, including back-to-back-to-back shots by Tyler Sampson, Kristen Winter and Emily Walton in the seventh inning of the nightcap.

"I don't know that we've ever done that before," Coach Brian Erbe remarked.

Sampson smashed three homers in the twinbill and Miller hit a pair. Walton and Drahozal had one apiece as part of a 25-hit attack in just 12 innings of softball.

Meanwhile, the Xavier pitchers tossed a pair of shutouts and the Saints committed only one error all day. The Lions never got a runner to third base.