Big inning propels L-S softball past SICL rival English Valleys

NORTH ENGLISH — Nine Hawks had at least one hit against English Valleys on June 13. And the Lynnville-Sully softball team used a six-run fourth inning to push past the Bears 9-7 during a South Iowa Cedar League game.

The Hawks led 1-0 after one inning and the game was tied at 1-all after three. The six-run fourth by L-S put the visitors in front for good.

English Valleys scored four in the fifth to close the gap, but the Hawks scored two in the sixth to stay in front for good.

Greenlee Smock, Reagan McFarland and Aliya James all had two hits to lead the Hawks offensively.

Lily Zylstra, Abby Squires, Makayla Tice, Alexy Conover, Alaina Roberts and Jakiera Hay each collected one hit.

McFarland and James doubled and added one run and two RBIs. McFarland stole three bases and James swiped one bag.

Smock chipped in one run, one RBI and one steal, Squires doubled and had one run, one RBI and one walk and Tice doubled and collected one run and one RBI. Zylstra doubled and scored one run.

The Hawks laced five doubles in the win. Conover, Roberts and Morgan Jones all scored one run.

James pitched all seven innings and surrendered seven runs — five earned — on nine hits. She struck out two, walked two and hit one batter.

Kennedy Axmear had two hits, two runs and two RBIs at the plate for English Valleys (12-8 overall, 7-7 in the conference) and took the loss in the circle after allowing six earned runs while striking out seven.

The Hawks (10-16, 9-5) out-hit English Valleys 12-11 and the Bears committed four turnovers.

Lynnville-Sully 13, HLV 1, 3 innings

SULLY — The Hawks broke open a tie game with back-to-back six-run innings in the second and third and downed HLV 13-1 in three innings on June 16 during SICL play.

L-S out-hit HLV 7-3 and the Warriors committed 10 errors.

McFarland, Zylstra and Tice had six of the seven hits. McFarland tallied two hits, three runs and four stolen bases, Zylstra finished with two hits, one double, one run, one RBI and one walk and Tice chipped in two hits, two runs, one RBI and one steal.

Smock scored two runs, stole two bases and had one RBI, James registered one hit, one run and one RBI and Conover scored two runs and had one steal.

Hay and Roberts each had one RBI, Kaylee DeWitt and Elise Alberts both walked once and Alberts and Avery Merten scored one run each.

Conover pitched all three innings and allowed one earned runs and two hits. She struck out two.

Ema Roberts tallied one hit and one run for HLV (3-12, 3-10), while Hailey Jack added one hit and one RBI and took the loss in the circle.

Lynnville-Sully 15, Keota 3

KEOTA — L-S softball put up four crooked numbers in all four innings and downed Keota 15-3 on June 17 during SICL play.

The Hawks cranked out 10 hits and took advantage of three Keota (0-14, 0-13) errors. L-S led 6-2 after one and then scored two in the second, four in the third and three in the fourth to end the game early.

Smock and Tice registered two hits each to lead the offense. Tice doubled, scored one run, had three RBIs and stole one base and Smock scored two runs and stole one base.

Zylstra doubled, scored three runs, walked once and stole two bases, James had one hit, three runs, one walk and two steals and Jones collected one hit, one run, one walk and one steal.

McFarland finished with one hit, one run and two steals, Squires had one hit, one run and one steal and Alberts walked twice, scored two runs and stole one base. The other hit came from Hay and she also was hit by a pitch.

Kate Harthoorn, Roberts, Conover and DeWitt all walked once, Harthoorn scored one run, DeWitt stole one base and Merten collected an RBI.

The Hawks finished with 10 hits, 12 steals and nine walks in the win.

James pitched four innings and allowed two earned runs and four hits and finished with four strikeouts and one walk in four innings.

Lynnville-Sully 13, HLV 1, 3 innings

VICTOR — James twirled a three-inning no-hitter against HLV on June 20. The Hawks supported her with 13 runs and 14 hits at the plate and the visitors downed the Warriors 13-1 in three innings during SICL play.

The Hawks scored nine runs in the first and then ended things early with a single run in the second and three in the third.

James tossed three innings and allowed zero earned runs and no hits. She struck out four and walked one.

Six Hawks had at least two hits apiece. McFarland led the way with three hits, two runs, one RBI and two steals.

Zylstra’s two hits were a triple and a homer and she added three runs, two RBIs and one steal. It was the first home run of her varsity career.

Smock finished with two hits, one triple, two runs, three RBIs and one steal and James added two hits, two runs, three RBIs and two steals.

Squires and Alberts each had two hits and one run, too. Squires added an RBI. Tice had one hit and one run, Hay was hit by a pitch and scored one run and Conover walked once.

The two teams combined to commit nine errors. HLV’s lone run came in the third and it was unearned.

Iowa Valley 4, Lynnville-Sully 2

SULLY — The Hawks were limited to four hits and they committed six errors during a 4-2 home loss to Iowa Valley in SICL play on June 10.

The Hawks led 1-0 but Iowa Valley scored two in the third to go up for good.

Smock led the offense with one hit and one RBI and Zylstra, Squires and Alberts all had one hit each. Hay walked twice and scored one run, McFarland stole two bases and James and Conover both walked once.

James took the loss in the circle after surrendering four runs — two earned — on three hits. She struck out five and walked one.

Grace Gunzenhauser homered and had two hits to lead Iowa Valley (8-12, 5-8).

Grinnell 9, Lynnville-Sully 5

SULLY — A five-run fourth inning got L-S back into the game during its non-conference game against Grinnell on June 18.

The fast start by the Tigers was ultimately too much to overcome as Grinnell led 6-0 after three before winning 9-5 on the road.

L-S got within 6-5 in the fourth, but Grinnell (8-13) plated one in the fifth and two in the seventh to stay in front.

The Hawks had six hits and were plagued by four errors in the loss.

Conover led the offense with two hits, including her first career varsity homer, three RBIs, one walk and one steal.

Smock, McFarland, Zylstra and Tice had the other hits, McFarland, Tice, Alberts and Jones all scored one run and Tice had two RBIs. Jones and McFarland each stole one base.

James pitched all seven innings and surrendered nine runs — seven earned — on nine hits. She struck out one and walked three.

Sigourney 12, Lynnville-Sully 4

SULLY — Lynnville-Sully scored first and led 2-0 after three, but 1A No. 11 Sigourney pulled in front with a five-run fourth and then added two in the fifth, four in the sixth and one in the seventh to win 12-4 during an SICL road game.

The Hawks were out-hit 14-8 and they committed 10 errors. The Savages had four errors.

McFarland had two hits, one double, one run and two steals to lead the way.

Smock, Zylstra, James, Squires, Tice and Alberts each had one hit. Zylstra, Tice and Alberts each added one run and one steal, James had two RBIs, Smock had one RBI and Squires’ hit was a double. Hay was hit by a pitch.

The Hawks used three pitchers in the game. James tossed four innings, took the loss and allowed five runs — two earned — on two hits. She walked three and hit three.

Conover pitched 2 1/3 innings and surrendered seven runs — four earned on zero hits. She walked six. Alberts pitched 2/3 of an inning and had a clean sheet.

Carly Goodwin led Sigourney (17-5, 11-1) with three hits and three RBIs at the plate and struck out 11 while allowing no earned runs and five hits in seven innings in the circle.

Courtney Hemsley also had four hits, three runs, two doubles and two RBIs.

West Marshall 12, Lynnville-Sully 10

STATE CENTER — Runs were easy to come by for both Lynnville-Sully and West Marshall during a non-conference game on June 14.

The Hawks led 8-6 after three innings but couldn’t hold the lead during a 12-10 road loss.

West Marshall (11-11) scored four runs in the first to grab an early lead and then plated four in the sixth to complete the final rally.

Lynnville-Sully was out-hit 12-8, but it couldn’t take advantage of West Marshall’s seven errors. The Hawks had three errors themselves.

McFarland and Conover had two hits apiece to lead the offense. McFarland scored two runs, walked once and stole one base and Conover finished with two runs and one RBI.

Smock, James, Hay and Roberts had the other hits. Smock added two runs, one RBI, one walk and one steal, James doubled, scored one run and had two RBIs and Roberts doubled, had two RBIs and walked once.

Hay scored two runs, Zylstra walked once and had one RBI and Tice scored one run and tallied one RBI.

James and Conover combined to pitch six innings. James took the loss after throwing five innings and allowing 10 runs — nine earned — on eight hits. She struck out two and walked six.

Conover tossed one inning and surrendered two runs — one earned — on two hits. She fanned three.

Lilly Buck led the Trojans with two hits, three runs and two walks, while Ciera Randall tallied three hits.

Hawks fall twice at home tournament

SULLY — Slow starts doomed the Hawks in both of their losses at the team’s home tournament on June 11.

Albia led 9-0 after four and held on to win 10-6, while Des Moines Christian used a seven-run second frame to dispatch the Hawks 14-4 in five innings.

In the loss to Albia (17-5), the Hawks had seven hits but committed three errors. L-S scored three runs each in the final two innings but the early deficit was too much to overcome.

Conover had two of the seven hits and scored one run.

McFarland, James, Tice, Hay and Jones all had one hit. McFarland scored one run, had one RBI and walked once and Jones finished with one run, one RBI and one walk.

Hay added one run and one RBI, Tice and Harthoorn scored one run each, Zylstra registered one RBI, Alberts walked once and James stole one base.

James and Conover each pitched three innings.

James started and took the loss after allowing eight runs — seven earned — on seven hits. She struck out two, walked two and hit one batter.

Conover allowed one earned run and two hits while striking out three and hitting two.

Conover had three of the Hawks’ five hits against Des Moines Christian (11-11). Hay also finished with one hit, one walk, one hit by pitch and one run scored.

Zylstra had the other hit, McFarland walked once, scored one run and stole one base, Tice walked twice and Smock scored one run.

Alberts started in the circle and surrendered 10 runs — six earned — on 10 hits. She struck out one and hit three.

James pitched the final two innings and allowed four earned runs on six hits.

Both teams committed five errors and the Lions out-hit the Hawks 14-5.

Saydel 12, Lynnville-Sully 0, 4 innings

DES MOINES — McFarland collected the team’s only hit against Dakota Lake during a 12-0, four-inning loss to Class 3A No. 7 Saydel on June 9 in a non-conference battle.

The game lasted four innings after the Eagles plated six in the first, three in the second and two in the third.

James pitched for the Hawks and took the loss after allowing 12 runs — seven earned — on nine hits. She walked four and hit one batter.

Lake allowed one hit and struck out seven in four innings and Caydance Sharp had two hits and four RBIs for Saydel.

The Eagles (21-2) had 12 hits and committed no errors. PCM had two errors.