KIMBALLTON (June 6) -- Mollie Rasmussen’s game-winning walk-off single to right field in the bottom of the seventh capped a late rally by the Exira-Elk Horn-Kimballton softball team for a 9-8 win over Boyer Valley Thursday night. The visiting Bulldogs scored four runs in the top of the sixth on four hits and four errors to take an 8-5 lead, but the Spartans plated two runs each in the sixth and the seventh to win it. Alisa Partridge drew a ba

 AVOCA (June 6) -- The AHSTW softball team finished off IKM-Manning in five innings Thursday night, winning 10-0.
   Madison Heiny connected for a three-run double in the fifth inning and Tristin Heiny followed with an RBI single to end the game. Ally Meyers pitched all five innings for the win, allowing four hits and striking out three.

 ATLANTIC (June 4) -- Harlan Community suffered its first conference loss of the season at eighth-ranked (Class 3A) Atlantic last Tuesday, falling just short in a back-and-forth 6-5 grinder featuring four lead changes in a three-inning span. Trailing 2-0 after one, the Cyclones rallied to take a 3-2 lead in the top of the fourth and went ahead 5-4 in the fifth but were unable to hold on against the defending Hawkeye Ten champions, who took the

 ATLANTIC (June 4) -- A 6-0 lead nearly slipped away in the late innings Tuesday night, but the Harlan Community baseball team was able to hold on and escape Atlantic with a 7-5 Hawkeye Ten win. Trailing 6-0, the Trojans mounted a five-run rally in the bottom of the sixth off Cyclone reliever Joey Moser, then loaded the bases in the seventh against Riley Kohles before the game ended on a nice running catch by center fielder Jon Owens. The fift

 HARLAN (June 3) -- The high-scoring Harlan Community bats were finally silenced Monday at Jim Goeser Field as Lewis Central’s Drake Nettles and Easton Dermody combined on a four-hitter and the Titan baseball team held off the fifth-ranked (3A) Cyclones 3-1. After scoring at least eight runs in each of its first six games, HCHS (6-1, 4-1 H-10) managed just four singles and an unearned run off the Titans’ top two pitchers and wasted a golden op

 HARLAN (June 4) -- Madison Schumacher and Emily Brouse both belted a home run and Morgan Schaben pitched a one-hitter with 13 strikeouts Monday as the Harlan Community softball team blew out Lewis Central 10-0 in six innings. HCHS scored three runs in the first inning, tacked on single tallies in the next four frames and finished off LC with a three-run sixth to snap a six-game slide against the struggling Titans, who dropped to 2-8 overall a

 ATLANTIC (June 1) -- Harlan Community finished 3-0 and Exira-Elk Horn-Kimballton went 1-2 with a win over Lewis Central at last Saturday’s Atlantic Softball Tournament.HCHS 8, Panorama 2 - The Cyclones trailed 2-1 early but put up crooked numbers in the third inning (2 runs), fourth (3) and sixth (2) to take control. HCHS tallied 13 hits in the contest, including a pair of doubles by Madison Schumacher (3 RBI) and one double each for Kate Hei

 IRWIN (June 4) -- IKM-Manning split a pair of Western Iowa Conference softball games earlier this week, winning 5-0 at Audubon Monday and losing to Underwood 7-2 here Tuesday night.IKM-M 5, Audubon 0 Freshman Bianca Cadwell pitched a two-hit shutout for the Wolves with five strikeouts and two walks and also chipped in with a hit and RBI at the plate during Monday’s 5-0 win at Audubon. IKM-Manning took a 1-0 lead in the first inning and pulled

Exira-EHK 9, Tri-Center 5 ELK HORN (May 31) -- Exira-Elk Horn-Kimballton took a 4-1 lead after two innings and answered every Tri-Center challenge the rest of the way last Friday night, scoring three runs in the fourth and two in the sixth to beat the Trojans 9-5. Offensive leaders for the Spartans included Josh Pettepier with two singles, two walks and two RBI, Tyler Petersen a single and two RBI and Cole Burmeister a single, two stolen bases

 AVOCA (June 1) -- The AHSTW softball team placed first in its three-team, round-robin tournament last Saturday, beating Fremont-Mills 13-0 in four innings and also shutting out Sidney 5-0 in the afternoon. Sidney beat F-M 13-1. The Lady Vikes’ five and six hitters - Kailey Jones and Ally Meyers - both finished 3-for-3 at the plate with two runs scored and one RBI vs.

 AVOCA (May 31) -- Capped by Blake Holst’s two-run walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth, AHSTW rallied twice last Friday night and outlasted Missouri Valley 7-6 in an extra-innings Western Iowa Conference baseball game. The Vikings trailed 5-2 before tying the score with three runs in the fifth.

 DES MOINES -- Gracie Assmann of the Harlan Community Schools Delegation has been selected by Special Olympics Iowa as one of three finalists for the Special Olympics Girl Athlete of the Year at the Des Moines Register Sports Awards, set for Friday, June 21, at Wells Fargo Arena. The event honors the state’s best athletes, coaches and teams for their achievements throughout the year and will be headlined by Pro Football Hall of Famer Kurt Warn

 AMES -- The Harlan Community School District Special Olympics team competed at the 2019 Summer Games (state meet) held May 24 at the Lied Recreation Center and Hilton Coliseum in Ames. HCSD qualified 25 athletes in 34 events based on their efforts at the Southwest Iowa Area Spring Games in April. Athletes were allowed to participate in one throwing event and one jumping event at state.

 AMES -- Scott Erlbacher of Dow City Erlbacher and Samantha Thorne of Harlan Twizzlers were local gold medalists in the 22-29-year-old divisions at the Special Olympics of Iowa Summer Games May 24 at Iowa State University. Erlbacher placed first in the softball throw and sixth in the 50-meter dash. Thorne placed first in both the 25-meter walk and the tennis ball throw.

 TREYNOR (May 31) -- The Harlan Community girls played a sound 80 minutes of soccer for the most part Friday night. Fifth-ranked Treynor was just better, scoring three first-half goals and beating the Cyclones 5-0 in a Class 1A, Region 2 semifinal. The Cardinals, now 12-2, suffered their only losses on April 6 to Spencer and Sioux City Heelan and have only allowed two goals since in winning 10 straight games. They hosted No. 10 St.