AVOCA (June 14) -- Just three outs away from victory, AHSTW surrendered five runs in the top of the seventh and lost to Underwood 7-4 in Western Iowa Conference softball action Thursday night. The Lady Vikes led 3-2 after six innings before the Eagles plated five runs on four hits in their final at-bat.

 LOGAN (June 15) -- Wyatt Wohlers laced a game-winning RBI single to the left field fence Friday night, lifting Logan-Magnolia past the IKM-Manning baseball team 5-4 in a back-and-forth Western Iowa Conference game. The Wolves, who led 1-0 early, tied the game at 2-2 in the fifth and 4-4 in the sixth but couldn’t get over the hump in falling to 3-10 overall and 3-8 in the WIC.

 IRWIN (June 14) -- Exactly one week after IKM-Manning’s Joy Gross secured career coaching win number 700, daughter Peyton Gross notched a big milestone of her own Thursday night at the Irwin softball diamond. Pitching 11 quality innings and helping her own cause with five hits at the plate, Gross earned career wins 99 and 100 as the 2nd-ranked Wolves swept Riverside in a doubleheader, 10-0 and 11-1. Gross pitched a six-inning one-hit shutout

 FORT DODGE (June 15-16) -- Close losses and low-scoring games were a common theme for the Harlan Community softball team this past weekend as the Cyclones finished 16th at the Fort Dodge Invitational with an 0-4 record. HCHS lost to 10th-ranked (5A) Fort Dodge 6-1 Friday in a first round game shortened to five innings due to a time limit.

 GLENWOOD (June 14) -- Harlan Community ran its baseball winning streak to 11 games on Thursday night, sweeping a doubleheader at Glenwood by scores of 12-11 and 11-1 (five innings) to improve to 13-2 overall and 12-0 in the Hawkeye Ten Conference. Game one featured an 18-run fifth inning in which HCHS broke a 2-2 tie with 10 runs in the top half and the Rams answered right back with eight.

 GLENWOOD (June 14) -- Harlan Community took one game from 15th-ranked (Class 4A) Glenwood and nearly pulled off a sweep last Thursday night, instead settling for a Hawkeye Ten Conference softball doubleheader split. HCHS dominated the first game 10-1 before losing the night cap 5-4 in nine innings.

 DENISON (June 13) -- A favorable wind and a short porch - foul pole to foul pole - set the stage for a big offensive night Wednesday as the Harlan Community baseball team doubled its season home run total in a 13-1 five-inning rout of Denison-Schleswig. It was a matchup of two Hawkeye Ten teams going in opposite directions as the regular season nears the halfway point. The third-ranked (Class 3A) Cyclones homered three times in winning their

 DENISON (June 13) -- Madison Schumacher’s solo home run gave the Harlan Community softball team a brief 1-0 lead Wednesday night, but 7th-ranked Denison-Schleswig responded with 10 runs over the next three innings and beat the Cyclones 10-2. HCHS pitcher Morgan Schaben struck out the side in order in the first, but the Monarchs would fan just two more times the rest of the game, using a combination of infield hits, errors, free passes and Cyc

 CARROLL (June 12) -- Harlan Community broke open a 3-3 tie with five two-out runs in the top of the seventh inning Tuesday night and finished off Kuemper Catholic 8-4 to sweep the season series. HCHS junior Brett Sears (4-0) pitched his first complete game of the year and beat Kuemper for the second time, allowing eight hits and three earned runs.

 CARROLL (June 12) -- The Harlan Community softball team won its second slugfest of the year vs. Kuemper Catholic Tuesday night, tallying 16 hits to outlast the Knights 11-8 in Hawkeye Ten action. Morgan Schaben led the Cyclones at the plate, going 5-for-5 with four RBI, including her second home run of the season and team-leading eighth double. Madison Schumacher (2-for-3) also hit her second homer and added a sacrfice fly for two RBI.

 WOODBINE (June 13) -- The Exira-Elk Horn-Kimballton softball team improved to 5-6 overall here Wednesday with a dominating 14-0 win over Woodbine.
   Offensive leaders for the Spartans included: Mollie Rasmussen (4-for-4, 2 RBI); Sophia Peppers (3-for-3, double, 3 runs, 3 RBI); Bailey Robertson (2-for-3, 3 runs); and Kealey Nelson (home run, 2 BB, 3 runs, 2 RBI).

 MISSOURI VALLEY (June 12) -- The IKM-Manning softball team needed just four innings to hand Missouri Valley a 12-0 defeat Tuesday night and sweep the regular season series. Senior Peyton Gross pitched an abbreviated one-hit shutout for her 98th career win, striking out seven and walking none.

 WOODBINE (June 13) -- Anthony Kingery doubled and Stephen Malloy singled for Exira-Elk Horn-Kimballton’s only two hits Wednesday as the Spartan baseball team was shut out by Woodbine 10-0 in five innings. The Tigers scored in every inning, keyed by a four-run third and a three-run fifth against Spartan starting pitcher Hunter Andersen and reliever Cole Madsen. Woodbine’s Alex Bantam struck out 10 and walked two in his two-hit shutout, helping

 ESSEX (June 13) -- One night after being shut out by Treynor 7-0, the AHSTW baseball team ventured out of the Western Iowa Conference Wednesday and finished with a whopping 23 stolen bases in a 14-8 win over Essex/South Page. The Vikings scored five runs in the top of the first and also put up crooked numbers in the third (four runs), fourth (two) and fifth (three) to pull away and improve to 5-6 overall. AHSTW had 13 hits in the contest, inc

 COUNCIL BLUFFS (June 11) -- Monday’s Harlan Community at St. Albert baseball and softball games were postponed and have been rescheduled as varsity doubleheaders in Harlan on Tuesday, June 26, at 5:30 p.m. The softball game was postponed a few hours in advance due to wet grounds and a forecast for more rain. The baseball game was just ready to start at 5:30 when impending severe weather led officials to send the Cyclones home.