Kennedy High School - Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Young Cougars sweep young Warriors

The rosters of the Washington and Kennedy softball teams tell a tale.

The Warriors have just two seniors and one junior that play, the Cougars one senior and two juniors.

Both lineups instead are packed with sophomores and freshmen. And with young first-year coaches, their future is bright.

The fact that a University of Northern Iowa assistant coach showed up at Kennedy Tuesday night to watch them play each other shows there’s talent aplenty on both sides.

Kennedy swept the doubleheader, 7-3 and 7-4, but what the college scout saw were two pretty well-pitched games with some timely hitting.

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No. 3 Kennedy sweeps Ankeny Centennial

ANKENY - The Kennedy Cougars got more strong pitching Tuesday night and swept a doubleheader from Ankeny Centennial, 4-2 and 9-2, in Ankeny.

The third-ranked Cougars raised their record to 22-3.

Sammy Lizarraga (5-0) tossed a complete game in the opener. He allowed four hits and collected five strikeouts.

Tyler Dralle and Derek Jacobus had two hits for Kennedy in Game 1. Zach Daniels drove in two runs.

Daniels (6-0) pitched a complete game in the nightcap. He allowed four hits and struck out seven batters. Daniels also had two hits and three RBIs.

Ben Sass had three hits for Kennedy in Game 2. Dralle had two more safeties for the Cougars.

Ankeny Centennial fell to 15-8.

Game 1

Kennedy      001 000 3 - 4 7 0
Centennial   000 100 1 - 2 4 2

Game 2

Kennedy      050 310 0 - 9 14 2
Centennial   000 200 0 - 2 4 3

Kernels staff hurt as storm hits stadium

A violent storm ripped through Veterans Memorial Stadium Monday afternoon, injuring Kernels staff members who vainly tried to roll the tarp onto the field in the midst of strong wind and heavy rains.

Several members of the grounds crew got trapped under the runaway tarp as it blew out of control and got tangled in the outfield. The long tube that normally holds the tarp rolled over at least one Kernels staff member before he/she could escape the dangerous situation.

Scott Wilson, the Kernels' assistant general manager, suffered a dislocated shoulder in the mayhem. Doug Nelson, the Kernels' general manager, suffered a bruised shoulder and lost his glasses somewhere in the outfield.

Staff members - including full-time employees, part-time employees and interns - routinely help the regular grounds crew with the tarp because it takes dozens of people to handle the massive covering. Kernels players are not allowed to help with the tarp, according to baseball rules, and were not injured.

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No. 3 Cougars blanked by Ottumwa

OTTUMWA - The Kennedy baseball team got more good pitching Thursday night, but this time it wasn't quite good enough.

The Ottumwa Bulldogs trimmed the third-ranked Cougars, 1-0, on a four-hit shutout by Steven Wilson.

Sophomore Jacob Henry allowed only four hits in six innings for Kennedy, but he was the hard-luck loser in a pitcher's duel.

Ottumwa (14-9) scored a run in the second inning and Wilson made it stand up.

Kennedy's record fell to 18-3.

Kennedy    000 000 0 - 0 4 0
Ottumwa    010 000 x - 1 4 0

W - Wilson. L - Henry.

'Zach! Zach! Zach!' blanks Saints again

The Kennedy Cougars invented a new chant in honor of junior Zach Daniels Wednesday night after he pitched a shutout against Xavier for the second time this year.

"Zach! Zach! Zach!" they sang as Daniels emerged from the visitors dugout at Ken Charipar Field for a post-game interview.

"It's a little annoying," the honoree said, smiling, "but that's OK."

Daniels tossed a five-hit shutout as No.3 Kennedy blanked the Saints, 1-0,in the second game of a Mississippi Valley Conference doubleheader.

Earlier this season, he pitched a one-hitter against Xavier and beat Mitch Keller in the semifinals of the Metro Tournament. Kennedy won the opener Wednesday, 13-4.

Daniels has thrown 14 innings against the Saints this year, allowing just six hits and no runs.

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Hawks sweep Cougars with 'small ball'

Prairie second baseman Amanda Stecklein is such an old-school ballplayer that she’s the only one on her team who bats bare-handed without hitting gloves.

And the way the Hawks swept Kennedy 8-1 and 6-1 Monday night suited her style of play to a T.

They won by playing “small ball” that would have made Ty Cobb proud. Even with all those runs, they hardly hit anything out of the infield.

Instead, they capitalized on Cougar errors, aggressive baserunning, bunts, walks and a whole bunch of grounders they beat out for infield hits.

“That’s not the way we usually win,” said Stecklein, who scored four times and knocked in two runs on a pair of ground balls. “But we still made it work. Coach (Joe) Yegge always tells us that if we get the bat on the ball and put it in play, good things will happen.”

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Hargens looks sharp as Cougars sweep

Kennedy pitcher Blake Hargens thought it was strange when he struck out seven batters in the first three innings Monday night against Iowa City

High.

Strange, but good.

"It was weird, because I'm normally a groundball pitcher," he said. "And getting all those strikeouts, I was like 'Geez.'"

Hargens tossed a one-hitter with eight strikeouts as the third-ranked Cougars blanked the Little Hawks, 8-0, in the first game of their Mississippi Valley Conference twinbill at Herkelman Field.

Kennedy won the second game, 6-3.

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Kennedy slips to No. 3 in rankings

The Kennedy Cougars dropped one spot to No. 3 in the Class 4A baseball rankings Monday despite winning all four of their games last week.

The Cougars took a 14-2 record into Monday night's doubleheader against Iowa City High at home.

Dubuque Hempstead remained No.1 in the Class 4A poll. Waukee jumped from No.5 to No. 2 in the rankings, pushing Kennedy to No.3.

The Xavier Saints, ranked No.9 in Class 3A last week, fell out of the rankings this week.

CLASS 4A

1. Dubuque Hempstead, 2. Waukee, 3. Kennedy, 4. Dowling Catholic, 5. Des Moines East, 6. Ankeny Centennial, 7. Cedar Falls, 8. Dubuque Senior, 9. Fort Dodge, 10. Urbandale.

CLASS 3A

1. Sioux City Heelan, 2. West Delaware, 3. Clear Lake, 4. Waverly-Shell Rock, 5. Fairfield, 6. Dubuque Wahlert, 7. Perry, 8. Harlan, 9. MOC-Floyd Valley, 10. Saydel.

Saints, J-Hawks keep rolling in softball

The Xavier Saints and Jefferson J-Hawks continue to set the pace for Metro softball teams, with several clubs not far behind.

The Saints, ranked No. 5 in Class 4A, won all four of their games this past week and raised their record to an impressive 18-2. The J-Hawks, ranked No. 5 in Class 5A, captured all five of their games and are sitting at 19-4.

The Washington Warriors, enjoying a strong year, went 5-1 this past week and have a 16-5 overall mark. Prairie is 16-9 and Kennedy 14-8.

The Linn-Mar Lions had a tough week, losing six of seven games. That dropped their record to 16-9. Marion lost five games and fell to 6-16.

Here are the Metro records through June 22:

Jefferson         19-4 overall    11-3 MVC
Xavier            18-2 overall    13-1 MVC
Washington        16-5 overall    10-4 MVC
Prairie           16-9 overall    11-3 MVC
Linn-Mar          16-9 overall    11-5 MVC
Kennedy           14-8 overall    7-6  MVC
Marion            6-16 overall    3-8  Wamac