Metro Sports Report

Dramatic changes for baseball over the years

If you don’t think athletics has changed in the past century, I would refer you to the baseball draft just completed.

In my early times in minor league baseball, it was rare to pay one player $100,000, but it happened in the 1950s with a Cedar Rapids pitcher named Billy Jo Davidson, who appeared here under great publicity. That was the ceiling, considered to be astronomical at the time.

He arrived as a phenom, but he wound up as a career minor leaguer. The reason I bring that up is to illustrate what a person like Branch Rickey would do with the Brooklyn Dodgers back then. He would pay $100,000 for 100 players, give them no instruction, no trainers, no roving coaches. He’d make them play every day and see which ones rose to the top.

Warriors fall in shootout to No. 1 Ankeny

MUSCATINE -- As the last of the penalty kicks sailed into the net, Washington goalkeeper Sophie Malcom stayed stretched out on the ground where she landed, but the entire Washington team, in a show of solidarity, ran into the goal and picked her up.

“It’s hard to be the goalkeeper in those,” Coach Sean McCoy said. “Ankeny has five great shooters and they hit four great PKs. Sophie did her best. That kind of embodies us. It is not about individuals, it is about the group, and our group went over there to make sure she knows she played a heck of a game.”

The fifth-ranked Warriors (16-4) lost a heartbreaker against top-ranked Ankeny (19-1) on Thursday in the first round of the state tournament at the Muscatine Soccer Complex. The game was tied after regulation and two overtimes, so went to a penalty kick shootout. Ankeny made its four kicks, Washington converted two of four.

It was the Warriors first trip to the state tournament and the team collectively held their heads high after the tough loss.

Valley tops Kennedy in OT

MUSCATINE -- It was a tough way to end the season for the Kennedy girls soccer team.

The No. 8 Cougars dropped their opening game in the Class 3A state soccer tournament, 2-1, Thursday night against No. 2 West Des Moines Valley in overtime.

“It’s always tough to come this far and come up just a little bit short, but coming into it we knew it was basically a 50-50 game,” said Kennedy Coach Homer Screws. “It was really going to come down to who executed. At the end of the day, we all had chances, but they did a great job and they are a great team.”

Kennedy (16-4) struck first in the game when Annie Feltes got a rebound and passed it over to Hannah Polomo, who buried it into the back of the net with just 15 seconds remaining in the first half.  Valley (15-4) responded almost immediately in the second half, however, tying the game at 1-1 just two minutes into the period.

The game continued to go back and fourth for the rest of regulation and overtime, until Hannah Turner found the goal for the Tigers on a corner kick with just 1:18 left in the first overtime period.

Xavier advances without top scorer

MUSCATINE - The top-ranked Xavier girls soccer team fought through the rain and 10th-ranked Independence East Buchanan in their quest for a sixth straight state championship. The Saints won, 4-0, in Thursday's first round of the Class 2A tournament at the Muscatine Soccer Complex.

Now the question for Xavier (17-2) is can it survive the loss of its leading scorer when it faces No. 5 Glenwood (15-1) at 4 p.m. Friday in the semifinals? Kayla Armstrong has 35 goals, but won't be able to play because of a red card she received with 8:22 left in Thursday's game after getting in a tussle with an Independence player.

“A couple plays prior to that she got hit slightly in the back and then there was a little altercation that the ref didn’t see,” Coach Doug Graham said. “Then when the next contact came, Kayla Armstrong responded and was correctly ejected from the game. You cannot do that.”

According to high school state rules, a player must sit out one day’s worth of competition after receiving a red card The Saints will have to find a way to replace Armstrong.

“It will be really difficult, we have never had this happen before, especially at state,” said junior forward Annie Dale. “We are just going to have to adjust to what happened, we can’t take anything back now so we just have to move forward and try to be strong.”