KIMBALLTON (July 5) -- Panorama got by Exira-Elk Horn-Kimballton 6-5 in non-conference softball action Friday, dropping the Spartans to 11-14 overall going into Monday’s Class 1A regional opener vs. Audubon. Offensively, the Spartans were led by two-hit games from Lexi Madsen, Kami Waymire, Shay Burmeister and Tatum Grubbs. Burmeister scored two runs and Grubbs had two RBI. Ashley Hansen did not have a hit but drew three walks.

 COUNCIL BLUFFS (July 1) -- If Monday’s game serves as an omen for the rest of the month, another fun July could be in store for Harlan Community baseball. Entering the final two and a half weeks of the regular season, HCHS put together one of its most complete games of the year at Lewis Central Monday morning, racking up 16 hits and playing error-free defense in a 12-6 win over the Hawkeye Ten-leading Titans. The fifth-ranked Cyclones were on

 SIOUX CITY (July 1) -  Harlan Community scored two go-ahead runs in the top of the sixth and plated two more in the eighth Monday night to outlast Sioux City Heelan 4-2 in an extra-inning non-conference softball game. HCHS improved to 25-6 with its ninth win in the last 10 games while the Crusaders dropped to 15-13. With the score tied at 2-2, the international tiebreaker was used in the eighth as both teams started with a runner at second ba

 ORIENT (July 1) -- Plating 17 runs in the top of the first inning, Exira-Elk Horn-Kimballton cruised to a 24-3 win over Orient-Macksburg in non-conference baseball action Monday, winning its fourth straight game. Taking the mound with a 17-run cushion, sophomore Hunter Andersen pitched all four innings for the Spartans and improved to 2-1 on the year.

 HASTINGS (July 2) -- Highlighted by a 10-run third inning, the AHSTW baseball team rolled past East Mills 17-0 in four innings on Tuesday night, improving to 9-11 on the season. Sam Porter and Joel Sampson both went 4-for-4 to lead the Vikings’ 13-hit attack. Porter had two doubles, scored two runs and also drove in a pair.

 MANILLA (July 1) -- Scoring five unearned runs in the top of the third inning, Denison-Schleswig built an early 7-1 lead and finished off IKM-Manning 8-2 Monday night in non-conference baseball action. The Monarchs (13-12 overall) threw one of their top two pitchers at the Wolves in senior Dawson Dorhout (4-4), who struck out 10 batters in six innings while allowing four hits, three walks and two earned runs. The Wolves (6-14) got singles fro

 AREA -- Regional softball tournament action will begin on Monday (July 8) for area squads IKM-Manning and Exira-Elk Horn-Kimballton while AHSTW is set to open postseason play on Wednesday, July 10. IKM-Manning and AHSTW are both part of the Class 2A, Region 3 bracket. The Wolves (8-15 with one regular season game left) will host Tri-Center (1-19) on Monday in Irwin. The winner advances to play at fifth-ranked West Monona on Wednesday night.

 RED OAK (June 27) -- Riley Kohles pitched four innings of shutout ball in game one and Derec Weyer hit his first varsity home run with six RBI in the night cap Thursday as Harlan Community swept Red Oak 14-3 and 17-9 in a Hawkeye Ten baseball doubleheader. The first game lasted just five innings as the Cyclones put together a five-run third and a six-run fifth to take a 14-0 lead.

 SIOUX CITY (June 26) -- It wasn’t the best outing of his career, but Brett Sears will take the ‘W.’ Sears labored through four innings to tie the school record for pitching wins last Wednesday night as the Harlan Community baseball team rallied for a 10-7 victory at Sioux City West. HCHS erased an early 5-0 deficit with six runs in the top of the second inning and broke a 6-6 tie with three runs in the fourth, hitting six doubles among 14 tot

 COUNCIL BLUFFS (June 29) -- Just two years removed from a 12-22 season, the Harlan Community softball team clinched a Hawkeye Ten Conference championship on Saturday morning with a 14-0, four-inning win at St. Albert. HCHS blew the game open with seven runs in the third and five more in the fourth, improving to 24-6 overall and 17-1 in the Hawkeye Ten with two league games to go (July 8 at Denison).

 RED OAK (June 27) -- The Harlan Community softball team swept a doubleheader at Red Oak Thursday night by scores of 8-0 and 8-4. Morgan Schaben belted a pair of home runs in game one and also pitched a four-hit shutout with one walk and 13 strikeouts, improving her record to 18-6. Tianna Kasperbauer (5-0) pitched game two, allowing eight hits and three earned runs with seven strikeouts and one walk.HCHS 8, Red Oak 0 Aurora Miller, Schaben, Ka

 HARLAN (June 26) -- Sioux City East snapped the Harlan Community softball team’s five-game winning streak last Wednesday night with a hard-fought 2-1 win over the Cyclones at H.

 LOGAN (June 27) -- In a wild Western Iowa Conference Softball Tournament semifinal, Riverside rallied three times in the last four innings - capped by a three-run bottom of the eighth - to beat IKM-Manning 8-7 Thursday at Logan. The Bulldogs (16-8) advanced to Thursday night’s tournament championship game and lost 8-0 to sixth-ranked (3A) Treynor.

 HARLAN -- Longtime Harlan Community assistant baseball coach Mark Vande Berg was recognized on the field prior to the Cyclones’ June 24 home game vs. Atlantic and received a plaque for his 29 years of service to the program. Vande Berg, who retired from teaching in the Harlan Community School District this past May, is in his 29th and final season as an assistant coach for HCHS.

 AREA (June 24) -- The AHSTW and IKM-Manning baseball teams both bowed out in the quarterfinal round of last Monday’s Western Iowa Conference Tournament. The seventh-seeded Vikings lost their quarterfinal game 4-0 at second-seeded Underwood, managing just two hits - singles by Clayton Akers and Blake Holst - off Eagle pitchers Landon Nelson (five innings) and Nick Ravlin.