HARLAN (June 23) -- Tuesday’s Hawkeye Ten baseball game at Jim Goeser Field shaped up to be an outstanding pitchers’ duel between senior aces Connor Bruck of Harlan Community and Easton Dermody of Lewis Central. Dermody held up his end of the bargain with a five-inning, three-hit shutout and 11 strikeouts.

 HARLAN (June 23) -- The Harlan Community softball team maintained its share of first place in the Hawkeye Ten Conference earlier this week with home wins of 4-2 over Denison-Schleswig Monday night and 8-3 against Lewis Central on Tuesday. The 13th-ranked (Class 4A) Cyclones improved to 7-1 overall and 5-0 in Hawkeye Ten Conference play, tied for first place with Atlantic.

 AVOCA (June 23) -- AHSTW’s first seven games of the softball season have featured a mixed bag of results, in both execution and the win-loss column. But the final inning of Tuesday’s 3-2 win against Missouri Valley may have offered a sneak peak at how this year’s Lady Vikes are truly capable of playing. As junior pitcher Kailey Jones put the finishing touches on a four-hitter, AHSTW’s defense saved its best for last against the Lady Reds. The

 AVOCA (June 23) -- AHSTW set the tone with a three-run first inning Tuesday night and went on to beat Missouri Valley 5-2 in Western Iowa Conference baseball action. The Vikings’ third win in a row improved their record to 3-1 (all WIC games) while the Big Reds fell to 0-4 in the WIC and 0-5 overall. AHSTW senior pitcher Joey Cunningham allowed two unearned runs in the top of the second but was otherwise in control in his five innings on the

 VAIL (June 24) -- The Exira-Elk Horn-Kimballton softball team’s red-hot start continued earlier this week with a pair of Rolling Valley Conference road wins. The Spartans routed Glidden-Ralston 11-1 in five innings Tuesday in a game that was postponed 24 hours due to rain, then shut out Ar-We-Va in Vail 8-0 on Wednesday behind Macy Emgarten’s 15-strikeout performance. Exira-EHK is now 8-0 overall and 5-0 in the RVC. A six-run fourth inning ou

 FORT DODGE (June 20) -- Harlan Community won two out of three games at Saturday’s Fort Dodge Softball Tournament, defeating Sioux City East 3-0 and Bishop Heelan 7-6 before falling 12-0 in six innings to top-ranked (5A) Fort Dodge. HCHS, listed 13th in the latest Class 4A softball rankings, finished the week with a 5-1 overall record.HCHS 3, Sioux City East 0 Emily Brouse pitched a two-hit shutout with four walks and 11 strikeouts on Saturday

 GLENWOOD (June 18) -- Three Hawkeye Ten Conference games have resulted in three shutout wins for the Harlan Community softball team. Newly ranked at 13th in Class 4A, the Cyclones beat Glenwood 3-0 on Thursday afternoon in a game that was halted by rain in the bottom of the sixth.

 GLENWOOD (June 18) -- Harlan Community responded to a one-hour rain delay with seven runs in the fifth and got four solid innings of relief pitching from junior Trey Gross Thursday afternoon to top Glenwood 11-5 in Hawkeye Ten baseball action. The 10th-ranked (Class 3A) Cyclones finished the opening week of the season with a 2-1 record - overall and in conference play - while the Rams dropped to 1-1. Glenwood led 4-2 in the home half of the t

 KIMBALLTON (June 19) -- The Exira-Elk Horn-Kimballton softball team improved  to 3-0 in the Rolling Valley Conference with home wins of 9-4 over Boyer Valley Thursday and 8-0 vs.

 ELK HORN (June 19) -- It was a tough opening week on the baseball diamond for Exira-Elk Horn-Kimballton, ending with Friday’s 12-1 home loss to fifth-ranked (1A) Coon Rapids-Bayard. The Spartans took CR-B the full seven innings after falling behind 6-0 in the first, but managed just three hits off three Crusader pitchers, struck out 12 times and committed five errors. Earlier in the week, Exira-EHK lost 15-1 to CAM, 5-0 at West Harrison and 1

 AREA (June 22) -- All across the state last week, Iowa baseball and softball teams became the first preps in the nation to “play ball” since COVID-19 shut down the sports world in March. From social distancing to disinfecting game balls that are touched by spectators, this year’s early-season games have marked an adjustment period for players, coaches and umpires as everyone adapts to the new health guidelines and rules. “You do what you’ve g

 CARROLL (June 16) -- Call them fire and ice or simply a good one-two punch. The early results - two games, two shutouts - are all positive for the Harlan Community pitching duo of Emily Brouse and Tianna Kasperbauer. One night after relieving Kasperbauer and striking out eight of the nine batters she faced at St.

 CARROLL (June 16) -- Connor Bruck stepped up like a true senior leader Tuesday night at Merchants Park, pitching five scoreless innings and going 3-for-4 from the leadoff spot as Harlan Community topped Kuemper Catholic 5-2 in Hawkeye Ten Conference baseball action. The 10th-ranked Cyclones and the Knights are now both 1-1 on the young season. Bruck, who went 8-0 on the mound last year, used an efficient 51 pitches to blank Kuemper for five f

 COUNCIL BLUFFS (June 15) -- St. Albert answered Harlan Community’s two-run top of the sixth with a tie-breaking five spot in the bottom half Monday night, beating the Cyclones 8-3 in the season opener for both state-ranked teams. The Iowa High School Baseball Coaches Association released its preseason rankings Monday with St.

 IRWIN (June 16) -- IKM-Manning broke open a close game with seven runs in the fourth and five in the fifth Tuesday night to put away the Tri-Center softball team 18-8 in five. The Wolves are off to a 1-0 start in the Western Iowa Conference. IKM-M scored its 18 runs on just six hits vs. T-C, taking advantage of 14 walks, five hit batsmen and six Trojan errors.