Ross Froehlich had been close to winning the annual Showboat Open before.  But this time, first place did not get away from him although it took two extra holes for the Algona native and Bishop Garrigan graduate to earn the victory.

Nick Stein rapped out three hits and pitched the final two innings for a save to help lead the Algona Bulldogs baseball team to a 7-5 North Central Conference win over the Clear Lake Lions as the red-and-black swept the defending Class 2A state champions this season.

For the eighth straight summer, the North Union Warrior softball team finished conference play undefeated.  The latest victory came on Friday, June 30 as the green-black-and-silver defeated Garner-Hayfield/Ventura 16-2 in three innings.

In a battle for the North Central Conference softball crown, the Humboldt Wildcats earned its second straight league title with an 8-3 victory over the Algona Bulldogs.  The game was played in Algona on Wednesday, June 28.
The 10th ranked Bulldogs scored three runs in the bottom of the first inning before talented freshman pitcher Ellie Jacobson blanked the red-and-black the rest of the game.

District assignments for the four area baseball teams were released last week by the Iowa High School Athletic Association while the district pairings will be out later.
All three Class 1A teams were assigned to play in District No. 3 in Bishop Garrigan (10-16), North Union (9-11) and West Bend-Mallard (2-19).
Other squads in the district include Lake Mills (10-10), North Iowa (5-11), Northwood-Kensett (4-14), St. Edmond (12-11) and West Hancock (2-13).

Bishop Garrigan avenged a 10-8 loss on June 5 at Buffalo Center with a 13-6 Top of Iowa Conference softball win over North Iowa in Algona on Monday, June 26 behind another strong pitching performance from Amanda Miller.
Miller tossed all seven innings in the chalked circle to earn her 10th victory of the season.  She allowed six runs, five of them earned, on nine hits while striking out seven and once again did not issue a base-on-balls.

Luke Bormann pitched five strong innings to help lead the Bishop Garrigan Golden Bears baseball team to an 11-4 Top of Iowa Conference victory over the North Iowa Bison in a contest played on Monday, June 26.
Bormann went the first five innings to earn the win on the mound for the black-and-gold as he allowed three unearned runs on six hits with two strikeouts, walked two and hit a batter.

Regional softball pairings were released on Monday for the four area softball teams by Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union as the squads now know their path to the state tournament to be held in Fort Dodge on July 17-21.
Class 1A teams will see action first as they will begin play on Monday, July 3.  That evening in Algona, Bishop Garrigan (15-7) will host West Hancock (0-17) while at Mason City, West Bend-Mallard (8-11) will take on Mason City Newman (15-7).

Algona got three hits from Aliyah Buscher and every starter in the red-and-black line-up had at least one hit in an 11-1, five-inning North Central Conference softball victory over the Clarion-Goldfield Cowgirls in a contest played in Algona on Monday, June 19.

Algona pounded out 13 hits and cruised to an 11-1, six-inning North Central Conference baseball victory over the Clarion-Goldfield Cowboys.
The red-and-black improved to 8-12 overall with the win but more importantly are now 5-2 in conference play, currently sitting in second place in the league.

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West Bend-Mallard plated five runs in its last two at bats to squeeze out a 9-6 Twin Lakes Conference softball road victory over the Sioux Central Rebels in a contest played at Sioux Rapids on Friday, June 9.
The win evened the purple-and-gold’s overall record on the year at 6-6 and the Wolverines are now 3-4 in conference play while the Rebels fell to 2-11 overall and are now 1-5 in the league.

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In a battle of the only two unbeaten teams in the Top of Iowa Conference’s Western Division, North Union topped Bishop Garrigan by the score of 4-2 in softball action.
The contest was played in Algona on Friday, June 2 as the green-black-and-silver improved to 8-0 overall and are now 6-0 in the league while the Golden Bears fell to 6-3 overall are now 5-1 in the conference.

Algona scored early and often by rapping out 14 hits in a 16-6, six-inning baseball victory over the St. Edmond Gaels in a North Central Conference game played in Algona on Monday, June 5.
The red-and-black improved to 5-5 overall but are 3-0 in the conference while the Gaels fell to 4-5 overall and 1-2 in the league with the loss on Monday evening.