By Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – This is the type of team that City High head coach Brian Mitchell has been waiting for.

It’s not just the 22-7 record or the top-five ranking in Class 4A that has the Little Hawks’ sixth-year head coach excited, it’s how they’ve gotten there.

Fourth-ranked City High has put together its best season in a decade and according to Mitchell its little more than work that has the Little Hawks chasing their first state tournament appearance since 2003.  

“You talk about gym rats, we have cage rats,” Mitchell said. “We have guys that have put in the work.”

That work has led to an impressive breakthrough for a City High program that has finished with a winning record twice in the last eight seasons.

The 22 wins for City High match the most for the Little Hawks in the previous four seasons and came after an 18-22 season last year.

City High has been pointing toward this season with a strong group of experience for several years.

According to senior Brett McCleary its been the work that the group has put in that is paying off now.

“My class is talented and I always knew we had a lot of grinders,” McCleary said. “We stuck by the process and it’s really paying off.”

The process has helped City High go from a middle of the road team to a state tournament contender.

Following a 4-4 start to the season the Little Hawks have won 18 of their last 21 games with wins over third-ranked West High and No. 10 Cedar Rapids Prairie.

Those two teams just happened to play for the 4A title last season.

“I think this team has can anything,” Senior shortstop Caleb Sass. “We have a lot of guys that have played a lot and played together a lot and I think we can go as far as we want.”

City High enters the home stretch of the regular season chasing a Mississippi Valley Conference divisional title.

The Little Hawks are 15-4 and lead Cedar Rapids Washington (10-7) by three games in the loss column.

“We didn’t really talk about that all that much but it’s something that definitely means something to us,” McCleary said of the conference title. “We just want to keep it going.”

MVC Title Chase: West High is also closing in on an MVC divisional crown, leading the Mississippi Division with six games to play.

West High (15-5), Cedar Rapids Jefferson (12-6) and Dubuque Wahlert (11-7) are in a three-team race for the Mississippi crown.

West High closes the season with doubleheaders against Linn-Mar (8-10), Dubuque Senior (9-9) and Waterloo West (2-16).

Walk-Off to Remember: The first career home run is always a big moment for a player. Career homer number two is the one that Tyler Hallett will never forget.

Hallett hit the first two home runs of his career against Center Point-Urbana on Monday, the second a walk-off solo blast that gave the Clippers a 9-8 win.

Revving it up at Regina: What a stretch for the Regina pitching staff.

Regina pitchers combined to allow four runs on just nine hits in 37 innings during a five-game winning streak for Class 2A ninth-ranked Regina (19-7) before a loss to Davenport West on Tuesday.

Junior ace Ryne Schooley set the tone with seven no-hit innings in a 1-0, 11-inning win over No. 6 Cascade on Monday.

Mitch Gahan tossed a three-hitter in a 4-1 win over Northeast on Thursday and Nick Brandt followed with a 1-hit shutout of Burlington Notre Dame on Friday.

Ryan Schott tossed a no-hitter with 12 strikeouts in a 2-0 win over Durant on Monday.