Joe Yegge has injected new life into the Cedar Rapids Prairie softball program this season as their new head coach.

Now the Hawks are one win away from reaching the Class 5A state tournament, but they'll face a stiff challenge in the regional finals Tuesday night when they visit No.4 Pleasant Valley.

Prairie earned a trip to the regional finals Saturday night by spanking Linn-Mar, 8-2, at the Prairie field.

It was a case of one dreaded bad inning for Linn-Mar (16-22). Prairie scored all eight of its run runs in the third inning on 10 hits.

Linn-Mar committed three errors in the game, but they all occurred in that dreaded frame.

Mallory Jones, Brittney Lash and Gabi Carter had two hits in the third inning. Natalie Rumer and Halle Lueck collected two-run hits in the frame.

“I was proud of our girls tonight,” said Linn-Mar Coach Mike Shipley. "We played toe-to-toe with a very good Prairie team and except for that one bad inning we played as well as they did. And despite that inning we continued to play hard.”

Lash led the Prairie attack with three hits. Jones, Carter, Malia Gudenkauf and Lueck contributed a pair of hits for the Hawks (27-14).

“It was my last home game,” said Lash. “I wanted to go all out and make it a good game. Their pitchers pitch inside-outside and that is what we worked on to get ready for tonight’s game and it paid off.”

Katie Kuch got the complete-game victory for the Hawks. She gave up four hits with five strikeouts and no walks.

“Tonight was a good game for me,” said Kuch. “I moved the ball around and was able to hit my spots and that went well.

“To strike out the last batter I faced at home was a good way to go out. It felt good to win our last home game of the season.”

Kortlan Ollinger, playing in her last game for Linn-Mar, had two of the Lions’ four hits, including a leadoff triple in the sixth. She scored both runs and added a stolen base.

“I had a job as the leadoff hitter,” said Ollinger. “I just did as good as I could do. It’s my last game so it’s a little emotional.”

“We have had kind of an up and down year this year,” said Shipley. "We had won six of our last seven games and we were prepared for this game tonight.

“We lose six good seniors and have a lot of good young players coming back to build on this year’s experience.”

Prairie collected 13 hits in the game.

“We made some hitting adjustments prior to the game,” said Yegge. “These girls bought into everything we’ve done all season and trusted us to make good decisions. It was good to see Kuch get a 20-win season. She earned it.

"They are a great group of kids who have worked hard and had no issues.”

PRAIRIE (8): Jones, ss, 4 1 2 1, Lash, cf, 4 1 3 0, Carter, 3 1 2 1, Rumer, dp, 4 0 1 2, K.Kuch, p, 0 0 0 0, Usher, rf, 4 0 0 0, Pipolo, pr, 0 1 0 0, Gudenkauf, 1b, 4 1 2 0, L.Kuch, pr, 0 0 0 0, O’Brian, c, 3 0 1 1, Moenk, cr, 0 1 0 0, Stecklein, 2b, 3 1 0 0, Lueck, lf, 3 1 2 2. Totals 32 8 13 6.

LINN-MAR (2): K.Ollinger, cf, 3 2 2 0, E.Ollinger, dp/ss, 3 0 0 0, Harms, lf, 0 0 0 0, Kelsey, ss/p, 3 0 0 0, Ryan, p/dp, 3 0 1 1, Rentschler, 1b, 3 0 0 0, Duggan, 2b, 3 0 0 0, Yearling, rf, 3 0 0 0, Lincoln, c, 2 0 1 0, Strauel, cr, 0 0 0 0, Clauson, ph, 1 0 0 0, Swanson, 3b, 2 0 0 0. Totals 26 2 4 1.

Prairie     008 000 0 - 8 13 2
Linn-Mar  000 101 0 - 2 4 3

K.Kuch and O’Brian. Ryan, Kelsey (4) and Lincoln. W - K.Kuch. L - Ryan. 2B - Lash, Lueck. 3B - K.Ollinger. SB - Moenk, Lueck, K.Ollinger.