At tournament time, clutch hitting is key to a team advancing to the next round. The Algona Bulldogs softball squad did just that to upset the third-ranked team in Class 3A, the Humboldt Wildcats, by the score of 4-2.
The regional semifinal contest between the two North Central Conference rivals was played July 12. The red and black scored all four of their uns on two-out hits.
Read the whole story in the July 18 Kossuth County Advance.

Amanda Miller scattered four hits to help the ninth-ranked Bishop Garrigan Golden Bears softball team to a 5-1 Class 1A semifinal regional softball victory over the North Butler Bearcats July 12.
The junior right-hander pitched all seven innings for the black and gold to earn the win. She allowed one unearned run on four hits while fanning two, walked two and hit a batter.
Get the game details in the July 18 Kossuth County Advance.

Throughout my many years of seeing baseball and softball games, I thought I had seen everything. But, on July 10 in the opening round of the Class 3A tournament, I saw a first.
With the score tied at 1-1 in the bottom of the eighth inning with two outs and runners on second and third, Algona's Lillian Etherington struck out on a pitch in the dirt. As there were two outs, Estherville-Lincoln Central had to throw the ball to first base to complete the out.

Eighth-ranked Central Springs exploded in six first-inning runs and never looked back in a 10-0, five-inning Class 2A regional semifinal round softball victory over the North Union Warriors on July 12.
Hope Steinberger led off the contest for the green, black and silver with a walk and advanced to second base but was stranded there before the home team sent 12 batters to the plate in the bottom of the first frame.
Read the whole story in the July 18 Kossuth County Advance.

Ninth-ranked Bishop Garrigan opened Class 1A regional softball play with an 11-1, five-inning victory over the Northwood-Kensett Vikings on Wednesday, July 10.
The black and gold scored in every inning and pounded out 11 hits to improve to 27-6 overall, while the Vikings ended the year with an overall mark of 13-13.
Read the whole story in the July 18 Kossuth County Advance.

Jimmy Geelan carded a 27-hole total of four over par 108 to capture the title at the annual Showboat Open at the River Road Golf Club on Sunday, July 14, in conjunction with Algona's Founders' Day celebration.
Geelan fired rounds of 32-36-40 for his 27-hole total of 108. Ricardo Gonzalez was the runner-up with a 38-35-38 111.
Read more about the tournament in the July 18 Advance.

They did it in two different fashions, but both had a big payday. Devin Jones and Colby Fett won big money specials at the Kossuth County Speedway on Thursday, July 11. Each won a cool $1,000 in his respective feature.
Jones led almost the whole way in the Bayer Crop Science Bumble Bee Nationals sport compacts feature. Fett only led two laps, but they were the most important laps to take the Wyffels Hybrids sport mods feature.

Estherville-Lincoln Central rallied from an early 1-0 deficit by taking advantage of six Algona errors in an 8-1 non-conference softball victory over the red and black July 2.
The two teams will met again in Humboldt at 5:30 p.m. on July 10 in the opening round of the Class 3A regional softball tournament. The Bulldogs fell to 14-10 overall on the year with the loss, while the red and white improved to 11-20 with the win.
Read all about it in the July 11 Advance.

North Union took advantage of 11 base-on-balls issued by the West Bend-Mallard Wolverines pitching staff in an 11-1, six-inning, non-conference baseball victory over the purple and gold on July 8.
The visitors had a scoring opportunity in the opening frame as Cole Thilges led off the contest with a walk. He stole second before the first out was recorded.
Get all the action in the July 11 Kossuth County Advance.

Bishop Garrigan put a bow on the 2019 season by defeating Forest City 5-3 in Top of Iowa Conference softball play. The black and gold rallied from an early 3-1 deficit by scoring two runs in the top of sixth stanza to break a 3-3 deadlock.

West Bend-Mallard's 2019 softball campaign came to end as the Mason City Newman Knights handed the purple and gold an 11-1, five-innning loss in the opening round of the Class 1A regional softball tournament.
The Wolverines got off to a good start as Kayla Hoskins ripped a one-out double. Hoskins moved up 60 feet on a wild pitch and easily scored on a two-out single to left field off the bat of Anna Ackerman for an early 1-0 advantage.

Algona jumped out to a 5-0 advantage and held off a late rally by Webster City to knock off the North Central Conference leading Lynx by the score of 5-4.
The red and black improved to 8-13 overall on the year and are now 6-5 in conference games, whle the Lynx fell out of sole possession of first place in the league with a mark of 9-2. They are 17-8 overall on the season.
Get all the details in the July 11 Advance.

It has not been a memorable season success-wise for either the Bishop Garrigan or Algona baseball squads this summer, but the two teams put on an exciting contest for a nice crowd at Algona High School July 2.
The Golden Bears scored four times in the top of the seventh inning to erase a 4-3 deficit and went on to a 7-5 non-conference win over the red and black.
Get all the action in the July 4 Kossuth County Advance.

Emma Fogarty pounded out four hits to help lead the ninth-ranked Bishop Garrigan Golden Bears softball squad to an 8-4 non-conference victory over the Manson Northwest Webster Cougars July 1.
Fogarty's big evening included two doubles among her four hits, as the junior scored twice and chased home another run. The black and gold scored a run in the top of the first innning when Mackenzie Meister singled and scored on an RBI single by Fogarty.

Bishop Garrigan broke a 1-1 deadlock with a pair of runs in the fourth stanza and added two big insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to earn a 5-2 nonconference baseball victory over the North Iowa Bison.
The black and gold scored first in the game. In the bottom of the first frame, Isaiah Byrkeland led off with a single. Luke Bormann sacrificed him to second base, and he easily scored on a single to center field by Alex Mammen.