For the second year in a row, the HCHS Cyclones baseball team has punched their ticket to the Regional Final Game with a 9-1 home victory over Hawkeye Ten rival, the Creston Panthers.

Whether it’s AHSTW’s Claire Mertz, Exira-EHK’s Harlee Fahn, HCHS’s Aubrey Schwieso, or IKM-Manning’s Raegan Garrison, each student athlete is excited and looking forward to their senior season.

In the bottom of the third inning of the Class 3A – 8 First Round Tournament Game with the HCHS Cyclones baseball team leading 3-2 over the Carroll Tigers, Junior Cyclone Landen Kaufman stepped to the plate and connected on a 3-2 pitch for a 3-run home run that cleared the left field fence putting his team up 6-2, en route to a 11-3 win, punching their ticket to the Semifinals of Regional Play.

Thursday, the HCHS Cyclones softball team opened Regional Play on the road against the Clarinda Cardinals losing 5-0, taking a first round exit ending their season.

In a game that didn’t feature much offense, HCHS Cyclone pitching paved the way starting with Junior Cyclone Weston Reisz who went five innings, giving up just one hit, and striking out six batters, helping lead his team to a 3-0 victory over Council Bluffs Abraham Lincoln, closing out their regular season with 24 wins.

In the top of the third inning of Wednesday's Class 2A - Region 3 Softball Game, with the game tied at 1 between the AHSTW Vikings and the Logan-Magnolia Panthers, Panther eighth-grader Kaitlyn Evans launched a 2-run home run to break the tie, putting her team ahead 3-1, and leading to a 9-1 victory stamping their ticket to the next round of Regionals, eliminating the Vikings and ending their season.

For the first time in five days, the HCHS Cyclones baseball team was back in action as they returned home to battle the Council Bluffs Jefferson Yellow Jackets easily cruising to a 10-0 victory in five innings due to the mercy rule for their 23rd win of the season.

In the bottom of the third inning in a scoreless game of the Class 1A – Region 3 First Round Tournament Game, IKM-Manning Wolves Sophomore Karlee Arp made a running, diving catch in center field for the first out.

In the top of the second inning of Wednesday’s softball game, AHSTW Junior Viking Loralei Wahling connected at the plate for an RBI double to score teammate Etta partlow off HCHS Sophomore Cyclone pitcher Lauren Schmitz, putting her team up 1-0, en route to a dominant 8-0 victory, closing out their regular season with eight consecutive victories.

In the bottom of the second inning with the bases loaded, a comebacker was hit to HCHS Senior Cyclone pitcher Braydon Ernst who turned and threw to shortstop Colton Schneider who was unable to field the ball cleanly causing Senior Clarinda Cardinals Caden Butt and Ayden Sunderman to score, which would be all the Cardinals would need winning 2-0, and handing the Cyclones their eighth loss.

In the bottom of the seventh inning in a game where the HCHS Cyclones trailed 3-2 with one out, Junior Cyclone Brett Heese stepped to the plate and delivered a walk-off 2-run single to center field off of Sophomore Sioux City East Black Raider Quinton Ashcraft winning the game 4-3 as the Cyclones stormed the field to jump on the back of Heese for their 22nd win of the season.

In the bottom of the fourth inning in a scoreless game and Cyclone Senior Braydon Ernst on the mound for the HCHS baseball team, the Eagles offense got going scoring one run, following by two in the bottom of the fifth, and two more in the bottom of the sixth shutting the Cyclones out 5-0, handing them their seventh loss of the season.

Max Schmitz, an incoming freshman at Ankeny Centennial High School recently went to Naples, FL for a football camp called the ESPN 300 top gun showcase where he was just one of 75 people across the country to represent.
“It definitely means a lot,” Schmitz said. “I’ve put a lot of work in, and it’s definitely starting to pay off.”

AHSTW’s Bella Lamp recently wrapped up a standout freshman school year, while being a multi-sport athlete in cross country, track & field, basketball, and softball.

In the top of the fourth inning of Wednesday’s home softball game with the IKM-Manning Wolves trailing 1-0 to the MVAOCOU Rams, the Rams offense put up four runs off of Wolves starting pitcher Ella Richards starting with an RBI groundout from Braleigh Weber, followed by an RBI single off the bat of Alex Wonder, and a 2-run home run over the right field fence from Reagan Seuntjens, making it a 5-0 game en route to a 6-4 victory.