Kennedy High School - Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Carter helps Prairie belt Cougars

Although she was hitting at a .424 clip going into Tuesday night’s twinbill at Kennedy, Prairie sophomore Gabi Carter says she’s been a little disappointed in her season.

“The beginning of the year I was struggling,” she said. “So I sat myself down and re-evaluated.

“I decided I wasn’t going to try to be the big home-run hitter and try to hit everything out. Instead, I just want to hit the ball hard and get on base and move my teammates on.”

Batting in the third spot, she did that and more as she almost single-handedly crushed the Cougars.

Carter clouted three two-run doubles in Prairie's 16-6 win in the opener and came back with another two-run double along with an RBI single in the 8-2 second game victory.

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Kennedy pitchers toss twin shutouts

IOWA CITY - Zach Daniels and Jackson Behn each pitched shutouts to lead Kennedy to a doubleheader sweep of Iowa City High, 8-0 and 5-0, Monday night in Mississippi Valley Conference baseball at Mercer Park.

Kennedy (9-8, 8-5) rapped out 25 hits on offense. The Cougars had 15 hits in the opener.

Jared Staton had three hits and drove in a run in the opener. Andrew Johnson scored three runs.

Derek Jacobus, Brock Skow, Tony Maiers, Matt Stevens and Daniels had two hits apiece. Maiers drove in two runs.

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Cougars hold on to sweep Wahlert

Matt Stevens had three hits in the nightcap and Kennedy held off Dubuque Wahlert, 8-7, to sweep a Mississippi Valley Conference baseball doubleheader Friday night at Kennedy.

The Cougars scored eight runs in the bottom of the sixth inning of the opener to pull out a 14-8 win.

Kennedy (7-8, 6-5) blew a 6-0 lead in the opener. Wahlert (8-9, 5-7) scored four runs in the fifth and four more in the sixth to take an 8-6 lead.

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Cougars rally for split with IC West

IOWA CITY - Kennedy scored four runs in each of the sixth and seventh innings for an 8-4 win that salvaged a split with Iowa City West Thursday night in Mississippi Valley Conference softball.

Iowa City West won the opener, 10-6.

Rylee Steinke's RBI single in the sixth broke a 3-3 tie and capped Kennedy's four-run rally. Lauren Kubovec had an RBI double, and Tanner Rathjens and Erin Coker run-scoring singles.

Coker added an RBI triple in the seventh.

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7th-inning errors foil Cougars' upset bid

WEST DES MOINES - Kennedy played error-free baseball for six innings to back the two-hit pitching of freshman Jackson Behn in building a 2-0 lead against No.3 West Des Moines Valley.

Then came the seventh inning.

Back-to-back Kennedy errors to start the inning sparked a three-run seventh that allowed Valley to escape the Cougars, 3-2, Thursday night in a non-conference baseball game.

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No.2 PV sweeps Cougars

BETTENDORF - Kennedy lost a pair of softball games to No.2 Pleasant Valley, 14-4 and 6-2, Wednesday night at Pleasant Valley.

Heather McKinnon drove in two runs for Kennedy (5-11) in the five-inning opener.

Pleasant Valley's Maddie Reynolds, Chloe Miller, Haley Duwa and Holly Hoelting combined for eight hits and 13 RBIs. Hoelting also was the winning pitcher.

Tanner Rathjens drove in two runs for the Cougars in the nightcap.

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Warriors fall in Puk's mound farewell

It was the last night pitching on his home mound and Washington's A.J. Puk delivered in a pitchers duel Tuesday night against Kennedy.

So did Cougars hurlers Zach Daniels, David King and Derek Jacobus.

When the smoke had cleared the Cougars took a 2-0 Mississippi Valley Conference victory.

Kennedy also beat the Warriors Monday night at Kennedy, 10-0.

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Too many Koerperiches for Cougars

DUBUQUE - The Kennedy softball team ran into too many Keorperiches Tuesday night against Dubuque Hempstead.

Hailey Koerperich was the winning pitcher in both games and Hope Koerperich had five hits and drove in six runs to lead Hempstead to a sweep of the Cougars, 14-1 and 9-2. The first game was three innings.

Ashley Hamilton hit a home run in the nightcap for Kennedy (5-9, 3-7). Heather McKinnon had three hits and Tanner Rathjens two.

The Cougars had only two hits in the opener.

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Lizarraga shines as Cougars belt Warriors

The Junior Cougars brought out the best in Sammy Lizarraga and the Senior Cougars at Kennedy High School Monday night.

Lizarraga pitched a two-hit shutout, went 3-for-3 and drove in three runs as Kennedy belted Washington, 10-0, in five innings on Junior Cougar Night at the ballpark.

Brock Skow socked a two-run homer in the fourth inning and roped a two-run double in the fifth to finish the game by the mercy rule.

Kennedy has been struggling a little this season after suffering heavy graduation losses from a club that reached the semifinals of the Class 4A state tournament, but the Cougars (4-7, 3-5) looked sharp against the Warriors (7-5, 5-4).

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