April 25, 2024

Third-ranked Raiders win Collins Days Tournament

By Troy Hyde

Collins-Maxwell/Baxter’s softball team won the Collins Days Tournament for the third straight season Saturday after wins over Colo-NESCO and Montezuma. The Class 2A No. 3 Raiders have won six straight games and are 23-5 on the season. (Photo by)

COLLINS — The Class 2A No. 3 Collins-Maxwell/Baxter softball team won its home tournament title for the third straight season Saturday after downing Colo-NESCO and Montezuma.

With CAL leaving the tournament, it was moved to a round robin format, and the Raiders opened with a 13-2, five-inning win over the Royals and then downed Montezuma 4-1 in the third and final game of the day.

The two wins pushed CMB to 23-5 on the season. The Raiders are four wins away from tying the school record of 27 they set last year during their run to the state tourney.

The Raiders, who have won six straight games, scored seven runs in the first inning against the Royals and never looked back. They finished off the win with a five-run fourth inning.

Senior Abbey Kahler (9-5) threw the first two innings and got the win after allowing no earned runs on one hit with five strikeouts.

Kahler now has 118 strikeouts and 16 walks with an earned run average of 2.13.

Sophomore Sydney Schmidt tossed two innings and allowed two earned runs on five hits with one strikeout and one walk.

Sophomore Mikayla Markley tossed her first inning of the season, allowing no runs on three hits.

Five Raiders have two hits apiece.

Senior Mikayla Eslinger had two hits, two runs and an RBI, junior Katie Camp finished with two hits, one run, one walk and one stolen base and sophomore Hannah Caple collected two hits and walked once.

Freshman Mikayla Houge recorded two hits, scored two runs and had one RBI and freshman Abby Husak totaled two hits, two RBIs and a run scored.

Senior Heather Jessen had one hit, one run and two RBIs and freshman Jillian Holst scored twice as a courtesy runner.

Against Montezuma, CMB scored two runs in the first and led 3-0 after three innings. Both teams scored one run in the fourth.

Houge earned the win in the circle after allowing no earned runs on two hits with 14 strikeouts and two walks.

Houge is now 13-0 on the season with 127 strikeouts and 11 walks. Her earned run average is 1.11.

Kahler had two hits and two RBIs at the plate, and senior Megan Ritter had two hits and scored twice.

The Raiders play North Polk at 7 p.m. Monday in Alleman. With a 13-1 record, CMB can win the Heart of Iowa Conference title outright with a victory.