COUNCIL BLUFFS (June 10) -- Fifteen up, fifteen down. Harlan Community’s Emily Brouse pitched a five-inning perfect game with 12 strikeouts here Thursday night as the Cyclone softball team finished a tough week on a high note, defeating St.

 COUNCIL BLUFFS (June 10) -- A somewhat promising start was derailed by more free bases Thursday night as the Harlan Community baseball team lost a 10-4 decision at 2nd-ranked (1A) St.

 AVOCA (June 11) -- The AHSTW softball team capped a 4-0 week on the diamond with Friday night’s hard-fought 4-3 win over Tri-Center. The Lady Vikes improved to 10-6 overall and 8-2 in the Western Iowa Conference, putting them in third place behind Underwood (8-0) and Logan-Magnolia (7-1).

 GUTHRIE CENTER (June 12) -- The Exira-Elk Horn-Kimballton softball team improved to 14-3 on Saturday night, holding off a late comeback to beat ACGC 8-5. Leading 3-2 after three, the 12th-rated (1A) Spartans seemed to take control with a five-run outburst in the fifth but allowed three unearned runs in the bottom of the seventh before hanging on for the non-conference win. Macy Emgarten pitched a three-hitter for Exira-EHK, striking out eight

 UNDERWOOD (June 10) -- The fifth-ranked (2A) Underwood softball team scored five runs in the first and added eight in the second to finish off IKM-Manning 13-1 in three innings Thursday night. The Eagles improved to 11-0 on the season while the Wolves dropped to 0-9. Jessica Christensen went 2-for-2 at the plate to lead IKM-Manning and Brooke Booth hit a double.

 AVOCA (June 11) -- The Tri-Center baseball team completed a season sweep of AHSTW here Friday night as senior Leyton Nelson pitched a three-hitter with 13 strikeouts in the Trojans’ 5-0 win over the Vikings. Prior to the night cap, T-C put the finishes touches on a 23-1, four-inning victory over AHSTW - a game that was suspended by inclement weather on May 25. Friday’s full game saw Nelson (2-0) hold the Vikings to three hits: a double by Nic

 WOODBINE (June 11) -- The Exira-Elk Horn-Kimballton baseball team snapped a three-game losing skid and got back to the .500 mark overall (6-6) Friday night with a 4-2 win at Woodbine. Senior Tyler Petersen pitched a one-hitter for the Spartans, striking out 11 Tiger batters while walking just one and hitting one. Exira-EHK trailed 2-1 before scoring two runs in the fifth and one in the sixth.

 HARLAN (June 8) -- In seven out of nine innings Tuesday night, Atlantic mustered little to nothing against Harlan Community softball pitcher Emily Brouse. In the sixth and the ninth, however, the Trojans showed a big part of the reason why they’re ranked eighth in Class 3A. Aided by two Cyclone errors, Atlantic started getting better swings off Brouse in the top of the sixth and plated five runs on four hits to surge ahead 5-4. Following Jord

 HARLAN (June 8) -- Scoring two runs each in the first two innings, the Harlan Community baseball team built an early 4-1 lead and was able to hold off Atlantic 4-3 for a nice Hawkeye Ten victory Tuesday at Jim Goeser Field. HCHS evened its conference record at 3-3 and improved to 4-5 overall going into Thursday’s game at Council Bluffs St.

 HARLAN (June 7) -- The game of baseball is just so much simpler when you’re throwing strikes. Harlan Community and Sioux City North were on both sides of that coin Monday night in a doubleheader split at Jim Goeser Field. The Stars took advantage of 14 walks in a game one featuring five lead changes, scoring the final nine runs to win 16-9. The Cyclones won game two 16-1 in just four innings, utilizing seven free passes (five walks, two hit-b

 AVOCA (June 8) -- Blake Holst struck out Max Nielsen looking with the tying run in scoring position Tuesday night as AHSTW held off IKM-Manning 3-2 in Western Iowa Conference baseball action. A hit batsman, a walk and two wild pitches allowed the Wolves to pull within one run in the top of the seventh before Holst was able to slam the door shut. The Vikings improved to 3-4 on the year - all WIC games - going into Thursday’s game at Audubon an

 AVOCA (June 8) -- One night after winning 4-2 at Logan-Magnolia, the AHSTW softball team used three big innings to defeat IKM-Manning 13-1 Tuesday in four innings. The Lady Vikes scored five runs in the first, four in the third and four in the fourth to win by the rule. They totaled eight hits and took advantage of 11 walks. Grace Porter led AHSTW at the plate, going 2-for-3 with two runs scored and one RBI.

 ATLANTIC (June 5) -- Harlan Community and Exira-Elk Horn-Kimballton both finished with 2-1 records while AHSTW went 0-3 at last Saturday’s Atlantic Softball Tournament. The Cyclones’ two wins on the day came by scores of 11-1 over the Spartans and 11-0 vs. the Lady Vikes. The Spartans and Lady Vikes both faced three Hawkeye Ten opponents.

 DENISON -- The Harlan Community softball team improved its Hawkeye Ten Conference record to 4-1 on Thursday night with an 11-3 win at Denison-Schleswig. Outside of Denison’s three-run fifth inning, HCHS pitcher Emily Brouse was in full command in a complete game, 10-strikeout performance.

 DENISON (June 3) -- The Harlan Community baseball team outhit Denison-Schleswig 9-4 on Thursday night and did not commit an error on defense. The story of the game, however, was Denison’s 19 free bases courtesy of a combined 14 walks, one hit batter, three wild pitches and a balk issued by three Cyclone pitchers. The Monarchs, who trailed 3-1 after two innings, tied things up with two runs in the fourth and scored four more in the fifth while