Pat Harty

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – Davenport North won two out of three games against the City High softball team this season, but the Little Hawks won the game that mattered the most and did so in overpowering fashion.

City High pounded 14 hits, scored at least two runs in five innings and had no errors on defense while dismantling Davenport North 16-4 in a Class 5A regional opener on Thursday at City High.

The victory was in contrast to the season opener on May 22 when Davenport North swept City High in a doubleheader by scores of 12-0 and 13-2 on the same field.

“It was motivation,” Little Hawk sophomore Alexa Fredericks said of being swept. “We knew that wasn’t who we were and we have just kept getting stronger.”

Fredericks played a key role in Thursday’s drubbing by smacking a two-run home run in the top of the third inning when the Little Hawks erupted for five runs and by making a spectacular diving catch on a hard hit line drive in the bottom of the third.

“Hitting goes up and down, but I’ve been pretty consistent on defense this whole year and I’ve been wanting to get a diving catch and I haven’t had an opportunity,” Fredericks said. “And then tonight, it was special being a playoff game.”

City High improved to 20-20 on the season and will face Cedar Rapids Kennedy in the next round on Saturday in Cedar Rapids.

The Little Hawks were swept by Kennedy on June 20 by scores of 7-0 and 2-1 in Cedar Rapids. Kennedy also defeated City High in the playoffs last season, giving the Little Hawks a 12-30 final record.

“This team is not satisfied,” City coach Jeff Koenig said of his young squad, which includes three eighth-grade starters, including his daughter, Carey Koenig. “This team will come back tomorrow night and they’ll work their tails off in practice and they’ll just play loose and we’ll go up to Kennedy on Saturday.

“The Kennedy thing is kind of the same thing as (Davenport North). We went there a couple of weeks ago and they beat us twice. Okay, guys, if you want a chance to basically redeem yourself, let’s go up there and hit the ball like this, let’s go up and field the ball like this and let’s push Kennedy to the limits.”

City High scored the first two runs in the game in the second inning, the first coming on a mammoth home run by senior Ellie Grace Dixon.

Freshman Sydney Fellows followed with a double and then scored the second run on a double by Brianna Bentler.

Fellows was just getting started on offense as she finished with four hits, including a triple and two doubles, scored five runs, drove in three runs and reached base all five times.

Fellows said she was inspired to play well after Dixon addressed the team before the game. Dixon is one just three seniors on the Little Hawk roster.

“She had a talk with all the girls before about just flushing how we played them at the beginning of the season because we didn’t do what we wanted to do,” Fellows said. “And I think tonight we did exactly what we thought we would do.”

City High lost five of its last six regular-season games and failed to score in four of the losses against third-ranked Cedar Rapids Jefferson and against Cedar Rapids Prairie.

So confidence could have been an issue on Thursday, but the Little Hawks showed no effects of a hangover.

Davenport North was trailing 7-0 when it hit four solo home runs in the fourth inning, trimming the lead to just three runs.

City High then answered with four runs in the fifth, two in the sixth and three more in the seventh to put the game out of reach.

“That was big,” Koenig said. “I was nervous when they cut it with four solos. The last time we played against them I think they hit four or five out of the park on us. And tonight, we came back and put af four spot on them right away.

“And then I was like, okay, we’re not going to press. We’re ready to go and we know what we’re supposed to do and we just went out and did it.”

Senior Gabi Hiatt was cruising on the mound until she surrendered the four solo home runs in the fourth inning. She was replaced by eighth grader Ayana Lindsey, who then held North scoreless the rest of the way.

The Wildcats, who finished 17-23, hurt themselves on defense by committing four errors and by misjudging some balls hit to the outfield.

City High                   025  042  3  –  16  14  0

Davenport North       000  400  0  –   4    9   4

Gabi Hiatt, Ayana Lindsey (4) and Jayden Young; Emily Baenziger, Morgan Newmeyer (5), Cristal Baker (7) and Lauren Proehl.

W – Ayana Lindsey                L – Emily Baenziger.

2B – ICH: Ella Cook, Ellie Grace Dixon, Sydney Fellows (2), Brianna Bentler.

3B – ICH: Fellows.

HR – DN: Emily Baenziger, Avery Brooks, Ivy Wilmington, Lynde Holdt. ICH: Ellie Grace Dixon, Alexa Fredericks.