ALGONA—The annual cross-town baseball battle between Algona and Bishop Garrigan on Tuesday, July 6, featured a little bit of everything.
The contest saw the visitors built an early 7-1 advantage only to see the red-and-black rally for an 8-7 lead. Throw in a little much needed rain from skies above, nine different pitchers toeing the mound and that all resulted in 9-8 walk-off win for the Bulldogs.

MASON CITY—Algona trailed just 5-2 after three innings to top-ranked Mason City Newman but the Knights outscored the red-and-black 8-2 the rest of the game and went onto a 13-4 non-conference baseball victory over the Bulldogs.
Wyatt Streit, Tyler Manske and Miles Goche all had two hits in the contest while teammates Garrett Goche and Stren Crouch each added a single.

FONDA—North Union’s 2021 season came to an end as the Newell-Fonda Mustangs handed the green-black-and-silver a 10-0, five-inning Class 1A district baseball loss on Monday, July 12.
The Warriors had one hit in the contest, a single by Jay Heinen. Kegan Boland and Heinen shared the pitching duties with Heinen taking the loss on the hill.

ALGONA—Bishop Garrigan opened Class 1A district baseball play on Monday, July 12, with a 12-2, six-inning victory over the Graettinger-Terril/Ruthven-Ayrshire Titans.
Drew Fogarty pitched six solid innings on the bump to get the win for the black-and-gold. He allowed two unearned runs on seven hits while fanning seven and issued one base-on-balls.

FONDA—Nolan Ford knocked in Aaron Gambell with a two-out single in the top of the ninth inning to give the West Bend-Mallard Wolverines a 4-3, nine-inning opening round district baseball win over the West Hancock Eagles on Monday, July 12.

WEST BEND—Ar-We-Va broke open a tight 1-0 softball game with a nine-run fourth inning and went onto a 14-0, five-inning win over the West Bend-Mallard Wolverines.
The contest was played on Tuesday, July 6, in the opening round of the Class 1A regional tournament. The purple-and-gold finished the season with an overall mark of 1-20 while the Rockets moved on to the next round at 10-10.

NEWELL—Top-ranked Newell-Fonda pounded out a total of 13 hits in a 11-1, five-inning Class 1A regional softball quarterfinal win on Wednesday, July 7, over the Bishop Garrigan Golden Bears.
The Mustangs scored three runs in the first inning and added another in the third stanza for an early 4-0 advantage in the contest.

SHELDON—Algona seemed to be on their way to a big upset on Tuesday, July 6, in the opening round of the Class 3A regional softball tournament but a late eight-run outburst by Sheldon gave the Orabs a 13-8 victory.
The win advances the home team to the regional semifinal with a mark of 19-3 while the red-and-black completed the 2021 season with an overall record of 13-12.

ALGONA—Calvin Lange had a nice season last year at the Kossuth County Speedway but could not get his car into victory lane.
But the veteran Humboldt driver returned the familiar No. 43 rig there on Thursday, July 1, as the stock car feature winner to highlight a night of exciting dirt track racing at the oval.

POCAHONTAS—Pocahontas Area handed the North Union Warriors baseball team a 12-4 non-conference defeat on Monday, July 5.
The Indians broke a 1-1 deadlock in the bottom of the fourth inning with a five-run outburst and added six more runs in the fifth for the win.
The green-black-and-silver had six hits in the non-conference contest as Danyal Fothergill led the way with a single and a double.
 
Get more in the July 8 Kossuth County Advance.

GILMORE CITY—Spirit Lake belted three home runs in its final two at bats to break open a 7-2 game and went on to a 16-4, five-inning non-conference baseball win on Monday, July 5, over the West Bend-Mallard Wolverines.
The visitors built a 7-0 advantage after the first two and one half innings before Cole Thilges drew a one-out walk and cruised home as Noah Link blasted a 2-2 pitch over the right field fence to cut the lead to 7-2.
 
Read more in the July 8 Advance.

Last week the Class 1A district baseball pairings were released for the three area teams while the Class 3A substate pairings will come out this week for the Algona Bulldogs.
West Bend-Mallard (5-14) will open play in District No. 2 on Saturday, July 10, at 5 p.m. at Newell against the West Hancock Eagles (6-14).

ALGONA—Bishop Garrigan concluded Top of Iowa Conference baseball play on Friday, July 2, with a 13-6 victory over the West Hancock Eagles.
The win gave the Golden Bears a final record of 9-6 in the league. The red-and-white finished 4-10 in conference games.
 
See more on Bishop Garrigan baseball in the July 8 Advance.

WEST BEND—It has been a tough year for the eight seniors on the West Bend-Mallard Wolverines softball squad as the team had dropped their first 19 of games of the 2021 campaign.
But those eight players had a memorable Senior Night as the purple-and-gold ended the regular season on Tuesday, June 29, with their first victory of the season with a 10-9 win over the Eagle Grove Eagles.
 
See the full story in the July 8 Advance.

GARNER—The North Union Warriors softball squad completed its Top of Iowa Conference title run with a 5-0 shutout win over Garner-Hayfield/Ventura on Friday, July 2.
The victory improved the green-black-and-silver’s overall record to 26-4 and the seventh-ranked squad in Class 2A claimed the league title with a 15-1 mark. The Cardinals finished the regular season at 10-15 and were 6-10 in conference games.