SOLON – A week and a half into the season City High had the record and results of a top-five team and a state title contender.

Still something didn’t quite seem right for the Little Hawks.

Following a frustrating 2-1 loss to Class 5A third-ranked Cedar Rapids Kennedy on Wednesday City High identified what was missing for the first 10 days of the season – fun.

“In the two games we lost we were so tense,” City High junior Carey Koenig said. “We weren’t exactly having that much fun.”

Since that loss to the Cougars in the opening game of an MVC doubleheader its been nothing but fun for fourth-ranked City High.

City High stretched its winning streak to five on Saturday holding off 5A No. 10 Ottumwa 5-4 and cruising past 3A No. 14 Solon 8-0 at a triangular in Solon.

The 2-0 performance on Saturday came after City High hammered Kennedy 12-1 in game two on Wednesday and followed a doubleheader sweep of Cedar Rapids Washington on Thursday.

“We’re having fun again,” Koenig said. “Against Washington earlier this week we were able to square the ball up and everything felt back to normal. Everything is starting to be more fun and it’s definitely coming together.”

City High built a 5-0 lead and held off Ottumwa in the opener before posting an impressive 8-0 win over the host Spartans in the marquee matchup of the event Saturday afternoon.

Makayla Ribble homered, Koenig went 3-for-3 with three RBI and Ayana Lindsey tossed five innings of one hit ball in the win over Solon (11-5) as City High improved to 10-2 on the season.

“Today was really fun,” Lindsey said. “We played like a different team today and I hope we can keep going like that.”

City High is averaging nearly 12 runs per game during its current five-game winning streak that features wins over three ranked teams.

The Little Hawks have homered nine times during the five-game win streak as Koenig homered in the win over Ottumwa to go with the Ribble home run against Solon.

“I felt like today we put it together,” City High coach Jeff Koenig said. “That’s a good Ottumwa team that split with Fort Dodge earlier this week and that’s a good Solon team that’s been playing well but we did the little things today and we put it together. I felt like we moved up a few notches today.”

City High took control early in the finale against Solon scoring two runs in the bottom of the first inning.

Lindsey led off with a double and scored on an RBI single to left by Koenig and Keli Potter followed with a two-out single up the middle to score Koenig.

“Early on we were pressing and now we are trying not to do too much where before our mentality was to try to hit the home runs,” Carey Koenig said. “Now we are squaring the ball up and keeping the momentum going.”

City High added a single run in the third when Lindsey walked, stole second and third and scored on a Koenig single to left.

The Little Hawks broke the game open with four runs in the fourth as Lindsey had an RBI single and Koenig an RBI double.

Lindsey was 2-for-2 and scored three runs as six Little Hawks had hits and four drove in runs.

“Our hitting was better, our pitching was better our defense was better,” Carey Koenig said. “Everything is coming together.”

That was plenty of support for Lindsey who allowed just a leadoff single to Carly Ellison in the

first and a walk to Ava Stebral in the second.

Lindsey retired the final 12 batters she faced without a ball leaving the infield.

The junior struck out three and walked one.

“I think we were trying a little bit too hard early in the season,” Lindsey said. “We just had to have fun out there and relax because we knew we could take care of business.”

Solon             000  000  0  –  0  3  0

City High       201  410  x  –  8  9  0

W – Ayana Lindsey                L – Kayla West

2B – ICH: Elyse Rios, Carey Koenig, Ayana Lindsey

HR – ICH: Makayla Ribble

Ottumwa         300  003  1  –  7  10  3

Solon              003  000  0  –  3   3   3

W – Ashton Brown                 L – Carly Ellison

2B – OTT: Josie Lemonds, Kaylee Bix

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