Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – Last season 16 games into the Mississippi Valley Conference season City High sat at 4-12 and the top of the division seemed light years away.

What a difference a year has made for the Little Hawks.

A doubleheader sweep of Dubuque Senior on Thursday improved City High to 12-9 on the season and 12-4 in MVC play and put the Little Hawks alone atop the Valley Division standings.

“It’s a totally different feel around the program,” City High coach Jeff Koenig said. “You can just feel the confidence, you look out there and our heads are up.”

City High entered Thursday in a four-way tie with Cedar Rapids Kennedy, Dubuque Hempstead and Cedar Rapids Prairie for the Valley Division lead.

With 7-1 and 5-1 wins over Dubuque Senior (10-14, 6-9) on Thursday the Little Hawks took a half game lead on Kennedy (11-4) which had the second game of its doubleheader with Prairie postponed by weather.

The current Valley Division lead is a bit of a technicality and a third of the MVC slate still remains but following an 8-18 conference record and last place division finish last year the Little Hawks aren’t apologizing.

“Last year teams showed up to City High and thought they could take games off,” City High eighth grade catcher Carey Koenig said. “Now they know they have to show up and play their A game and it’s going to be a tough game every game.”

City High jumped to early leads in both games on Thursday on its way to its fifth MVC doubleheader sweep of the season.

The Little Hawks had two conference sweeps all of last year and the 12 wins for City High this season match last year’s season total.

“The last two games the first game we came out and didn’t play very well against Xavier and Hempstead and came out in the second game and turned it around,” Koenig said. “Tonight, I challenged them to play both at that same level and they came out and did it.”

Eighth grader Ayana Lindsey pitched 12 strong innings, allowing just one run, to earn the win in both games.

Lindsey allowed one run on three hits in a complete game in the opener and was just getting started.

She tossed five innings of one-hit ball in the second game, walking three and striking out two.

“I’ve never done that before,” Lindsey said. “I came in and pitched the first game and got comfortable and started throwing strikes and I was able to just keep going.”

City High gave Lindsey all the support she would need in the opener with two runs in the first inning.

The Little Hawks added two more in the third as eighth grader Ella Cook went 3-for-3 and Grace Dixon was 2-for-3 with an RBI double.

It’s important to get on them in the first inning and just show that we are going to hit, we are going to field and send the message right there in the first inning of the first game,” Cook said. “That makes it a lot easier from then on.”

City High used some timely two-out hitting to give Lindsey an early lead in game two.

The Little Hawks used a two-out RBI single by Cook to take a 1-0 lead in the second inning.

Five straight City High hitters reached base with two outs in the third as the Little Hawks took a 3-0 lead.

Jayden Young had a two-out RBI single in the two-run third.

Lindsey made the early lead stand, stranding runners in the third, fourth and fifth.

“She pitched really well,” Carey Koenig said. “She might have been tired, she might have been hot but she just put that past her and went out and pitched.”  

Alexa Fredericks broke the game open with a two-run home run in the fifth.

Brianna Bentler led off the inning with a ringing double to left-center and Fredericks followed with her fourth homer of the season.

“That was huge because that kind of broke it open,” Koenig said. “That was a big hit for her that really changed the game.”

Senior Gabi Hiatt came on to work the final two innings in relief on Lindsey as City High closed out the sweep.

“She was still throwing 60 miles an hour they said and so we decided to ride her in the second game,” Jeff Koenig said of Lindsey. “She pitched really well and then Gabi came in and was a good change of pace and they didn’t hit her hard.”

Cook and Young each had two hits for City High in the nightcap while Brooke Bormann had a hit and scored a run while Bentler doubled and scored twice.

Game 1

Dubuque Senior        000  010  0  –  1   3  1

City High                   202  030  x  –  7  10 2 

W – Ayana Lindsey    L – Maggie Rooney

2B – ICH: Ellie Dixon, Ella Cook.

Game 2

Dubuque Senior        000  001  0  –  1  2  1

City High                   012  020  x  –  5  8  1

W – Ayana Lindsey    L – Mckenzie Capesius

2B – ICH: Brianna Bentler

HR – ICH: Alexa Fredericks. DS: Tessa Kemp.