ALGONA—Iowa Falls-Alden used a strong pitching performance to hand the Algona Bulldogs a narrow 2-1 North Central Conference softball loss on Monday, June 27.

The Cadets’ Cidni Phipps out-dueled Ryan Haynes in a classic pitcher’s duel. Phipps allowed just one hit while fanning 10 and hit a pair of batters.

Haynes was just as sharp for the red-and-black as she gave up two runs, one earned, on five hits while striking out eight batters and walked one.

SWEA CITY—North Union remained undefeated in Top of Iowa Conference softball play on Monday, June 27 with a 10-1 victory over the Lake Mills Bulldogs.

The green-black-and-silver broke a scoreless dead-lock in the third inning with six runs. The home team added three more tallies in the bottom of the fourth frame before both teams scored a single run in the sixth stanza.

COLLINS—The Bishop Garrigan Golden Bears softball squad split a pair of non-conference contests on Saturday, June 25 at the Collins-Maxwell tournament.

The black-and-gold dropped their opener to Pella 14-1 in six innings but rebounded to defeat Central Decatur 4-2 later in the day in their second game.

In the opener, the Golden Bears scored first with a run in the first inning before the green-and-white responded with the next 14 runs.

STANHOPE—Algona dropped a pair of non-conference softball contests on Saturday, June 25 in the South Hamilton tournament. The red-and-black fell to West Marshall by the score of 7-3 and then lost a tight 2-1 decision to Greene County.

Brooklyn Helmers and Ryan Haynes each had a pair of hits in the opener as Haynes knocked in a pair of RBI. Helmers touched the plate twice in the contest as Lillian Etherington scored once.

By Greg Grabianowski

Sports Editor

DES MOINES—Post-season softball pairings for the three area squads were released on Friday by the Iowa Girls Athletic Union as the teams now know who stands in their way of a possible state tournament appearance.

Bishop Garrigan (12-11) will be the first area squad to play as they will begin Class 1A Region No. 2 action on Friday, July 1 by hosting the North Iowa Lady Bison (3-16).

ALGONA—The Kossuth County Racing Hall of Fame, located in Algona, will induct six individuals in its 2022 class of inductees. 

Drivers Jeff Nielsen, Rob Rose and Russ Trulson will join promoters Joe, Robin and Marian Ringsdorf as inductees. 

The induction ceremony will take place during the Kossuth County Fair races on Thursday, August 4.

Jeff Nielsen, then racing out of Pocahontas, amassed 17 wins at the Algona track. 

By Greg Grabianowski

Sports Editor

ALGONA—Algona pounded out 13 hits and took advantage of five St. Edmond errors as the Bulldogs blew past the Gaels 15-2 in five innings on Monday, June 20 in North Central Conference baseball action.

Jensen Eischen rapped out three hits while teammates Garrett Goche, Aiden Ulrich and Reid Louwagie each contributed two hits as right-hander Miles Goche tossed five solid innings on the bump for the win.

By Greg Grabianowski

Sports Editor

CLARION—Ryan Haynes was outstanding in the chalked circle to help lead the Algona Bulldogs’ softball squad to a 9-0 shutout North Central Conference victory over the Clarion-Goldfield/Dows Cowgirls on Wednesday, June 15.

GILMORE CITY—A four-run fifth inning proved to be the difference as the Emmetsburg E-Hawks defeated the West Bend-Mallard Wolverines by the score of 8-6 in Twin Lakes Conference baseball  contest.

The visitors jumped out to an early 3-0 advantage after the first half inning of play before the purple-and-gold dead locked the contest at 3-3 in the bottom of the fourth frame.

BANCROFT—North Union handed Top of Iowa Conference leader Forest City just their second loss in the league on Friday, June 17 with a narrow 8-7 victory over the Indians.

Forest City led 4-3 after a high-scoring first stanza. The visitors scored two more in the second frame while the green-black-and-silver scored once in the bottom of the third to make the score 6-4.

ALGONA—Mason City scored 16 unanswered runs to break a 5-5 tie in the top of the fourth inning to hand the Algona Bulldogs a 21-5 non-conference baseball loss on Friday, June 17 in six innings.

The visitors built a 5-0 advantage after two and half innings only to see the Bulldogs plate five runs in the bottom of the frame to dead lock the game at 5-5. But the River Hawks scored twice in the fourth and seven times in both the fifth and sixth stanza to end the contest early.

LAKE PARK—North Union broke a 2-2 tie with a pair of runs in the top of the fifth inning to earn their fourth straight win in a 4-2 non-conference baseball victory on Tuesday, June 14 over the Harris-Lake Park Wolves.

Each team scored once in the first inning before the home team took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the second frame only to see the green-black-and-silver tie the contest up at 2-2 with a run in the top of the third stanza.

MANLY—Central Springs scored four runs on six hits in the bottom of the sixth inning to rally for a 4-1 non-conference baseball victory over the Bishop Garrigan Golden Bears on Tuesday, June 14.

The black-and-gold broke a scoreless dead-lock in the top of fifth inning when Jacob Leerar was hit-by-a-pitch and came around to score on a two-out RBI single off the bat of Hollis Bode.

GILMORE CITY—Graettinger-Terril/Ruthven-Ayrshire took an early 8-0 advantage and went onto a 10-2 Twin Lakes Conference baseball victory on Wednesday, June 15 over the West Bend-Mallard Wolverines.

The Titans scored two runs in the top of the first inning before plating six runs in the three and tacked on two insurance tallies in the top of the sixth frame while the home team scored their only two runs in the bottom of the fourth stanza.

SWEA CITY—The North Union Warriors cruised past the Forest City Indians 12-0 in just three innings on Friday, June 17 in Top of Iowa Conference softball action.

The green-black-and-silver scored four times in each of three stanzas in the victory. Pitcher Emily Meyer did not allow a hit as she struck out nine batters and hit one.