By Greg Grabianowski

Sports Editor

ALGONA—Bishop Garrigan won a key Top of Iowa Conference baseball battle for second place on Friday, June 24 with a hard-fought 9-5 league victory over the North Union Warriors.

The win improved the black-and-gold’s overall record to 14-10 and they now sit alone in second place in the conference with a 9-3 mark while the Warriors fell to 8-8 on the season and are now 7-5 in league.

By Greg Grabianowski

Sports Editor

ALGONA—It is common occurrence just like he did on Wednesday evening traveling to Stuart Speedway, Ben Kraus of Britt will have to go two to three hours to race his outlaw mini-mod race car.

On Thursday, June 23, Kraus’ trip was very short as all he had to do was go across the street from his daily work job as a physical therapist at the Kossuth County Hospital to race at the Kossuth County Speedway.

SAC CITY—East Sac County scored twice in the bottom of the fifth inning to earn a 6-4 Twin Lakes Conference baseball victory over the West Bend-Mallard Wolverines to keep the purple-and-gold winless this season.

The home team led 3-2 after a high-scoring first stanza and the Wolverines scored a run in the top of the second to dead-lock the contest at 3-3.

WEBSTER CITY—Algona gave North Central Conference leader Webster City all they could handle before the Lynx scored a run in the bottom of the seventh inning on Friday, June 24 to squeeze out a 2-1 victory.

The win kept the purple-and-white in first place in the conference with a league mark of 10-1 and they are 16-7 overall while the Bulldogs fell to 9-15 overall and 5-6 in North Central Conference play with six of those 15 losses coming by one run.

BUFFALO CENTER—Bishop Garrigan continued a late season run of good play with their seventh straight win with a 7-4 victory on Monday, June 27 over the North Iowa Bison.

The black-and-gold scored in five of their seven at bats with single runs in the first, fifth and sixth stanzas along with two tallies in both the fourth and seventh frames as the home team scored three runs in the first and one in the sixth inning.

BUFFALO CENTER—Bishop Garrigan erupted for 11 runs in the top of the first inning and went onto a 12-0, three-inning Top of Iowa Conference softball victory over the North Iowa Lady Bison on Monday, June 27.

Hanna Merron led the offense with a pair of doubles while teammate Joey Doerning added a single and a double. Both Abbie Capesius and Ava Hough ripped a two-bagger along with one single each from Sacha Alesch and Darius Goche.

WEBSTER CITY—North Central Conference leader Webster City scored in every inning but one to remain undefeated in the league with an 11-1, six-inning conference victory over the Algona Bulldogs on Friday, June 24.

The Lynx scored three times in the opening stanza for an early 3-0 advantage. The home team then scored two runs in the third stanza while adding single tallies in both the fourth and sixth and plated four more runs in the bottom of the fifth inning.

FORT DODGE—Second-ranked North Union won three games on Saturday, June 23 in the St. Edmond softball invitational played at the beautiful Harlan Rogers Sports Complex.

The green-black-and-silver beat Woodward-Granger 10-0 in five innings in their opening game. Sam Nielsen and Emily both had three hits while teammates Naomi Jones, Beth Streuber and Shelby Fraker each had a pair of hits with Cassie Beadle, Maggie Engelby and Libby Stevens all adding a single.

GARNER—Trailing by the score of 5-4 in the top of the seventh inning, the Bishop Garrigan Golden Bears softball squad plated three runs to rally for a 7-5 Top of Iowa Conference victory over the Garner-Hayfield/Ventura Cardinals on Wednesday, June 22.

Each team plated a run in the first inning and three times in the third frame. Garner-Hayfield/Ventura took the lead with a single tally in the fourth stanza before the black-and-gold rallied for the win in the top of the seventh.

SWEA CITY—The North Union Warriors cruised past Garner-Hayfield/Ventura twice in a Top of Iowa Conference softball doubleheader played on Tuesday, June 21.

The green-black-and-silver topped the Cardinals 21-0 in five innings in the first game and defeated the red-and-black in the second game by the final score of 13-0 in three innings.

EMMETSBURG—Algona limited the Emmetsburg E-Hawks softball squad to just four hits in a tight 3-2 non-conference victory on Tuesday, June 21 over the black-and-gold.

Lillian Etherington twirled six solid innings to get the win in the circle. She gave up two earned runs on just three hits while fanning seven and walked a pair of E-Hawks.

BANCROFT—Garner-Hayfield/Ventura took advantage of 12 walks, three hit batters and three North Union errors to score 14 runs in a 14-4, five-inning Top of Iowa Conference baseball victory over the Warriors on Tuesday, June 21.

The loss cooled off the hot green-black-and-silver squad that had won seven of their last eight contests. The Cardinals had just six hits in the game but used the gifts from the home team to avenge a 5-4 loss earlier in the season.

BRITT—Trailing 4-3 after three innings, the Bishop Garrigan Golden Bears baseball team scored the final five tallies of the contest in an 8-4 Top of Iowa Conference win on Tuesday, June 21 over the West Hancock Eagles.

Garrett Heying had three hits, including a double to lead the offense as both Cal Birkey and Drew Lappe contributed a single and a double along with two singles from Hollis Bode and a triple by Andrew Fogarty.

ALGONA—The Humboldt Wildcats pounded out 14 hits in taking an 11-4 North Central Conference baseball win on Wednesday, June 22 over the Algona Bulldogs.

The blue-and-gold scored four runs in the second stanza along with two more in the third, single runs in both the fourth and seventh frames and three in the fifth while the home plated single runs in the first, second, fifth and sixth innings in the loss.

GARNER—Bishop Garrigan scored twice in both the sixth and seventh innings to rally for a come-from-behind 4-1 Top of Iowa Conference baseball win over the Garner-Hayfield/Ventura Cardinals on Wednesday, June 22.