Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – Being held scoreless in a doubleheader sweep at the hands of cross-town rival Liberty High last season was a rare disappointing moment in an otherwise highly success season for City High.

A year later the Little Hawks still hadn’t forgotten last year’s doubleheader sweep.

On Monday City High finally had its revenge.

Jake Mitchell tossed a one-hitter in the opener and Class 4A sixth-ranked City High hammered 11 hits in the nightcap while outscoring Liberty High 13-1 in a doubleheader sweep at Mercer Park in Iowa City.

“We’ve been waiting all year for this one after what happened last year,” Jake Mitchell said. “We had a chip on our shoulder coming into today and we played like it.”

Mitchell lost his no-hit bid with two outs in the seventh in a 2-0 City High win in game two.

City High (24-12) used a nine-run fourth inning to snap a 1-1 tie in the nightcap while pushing its winning streak to seven.

“It took a while to break that open but I felt even that first game we had good at bats all game long,” City High coach Brian Mitchell said. “We have a confidence right now and an energy level where there isn’t a lot of panic and we have a lot building our way.”

Mitchell was brilliant in the opener allowing just four baserunners in the complete-game shutout.

The junior left-hander hit a batter, walked one and had a batter reach via error in the first six innings.

Liberty High senior Luke Mayer had the Lightning’s only hit of the game with two outs in the seventh when his opposite field single landed just inside the right field line.

“My goal was to go throw strikes and I was mixing speeds really well and moving the ball well and letting my defense do that work behind me,” Jake Mitchell said. “My job was to just go throw strikes.”

Mitchell struck out five and didn’t allow a runner past first base.

After the hit by Mayer, Mitchell got Jackson Khamphilanouvong looking to end the game.

“Once I can get my off-speed going, especially my changeup which is my best pitch it’s usually going to be a good game,” Mitchell said. “Right away when my change up was good and my sinker was good I knew I had it.”

City High got all the offense it would need in the second inning of the opener when Dominic Salibi led off with a double, advanced to third on a passed ball and scored on an RBI groundout by Owen Hicks.

The Little Hawks added a run in the sixth when Drew Carlson led off with a double and scored on a Salibi sacrifice fly.

“Jake was dealing and Talon was dealing so at that point we just have to play for one run and go from there,” Carlson said. “Our defense has really come together and gotten a lot better and we were shutting them down and not let them get any momentum.”

Last season City High had just nine hits while being outscored 5-0 in a pair of losses to the Lightning.

City Hight got its offense rolling on Monday.

The Little Hawks had eight of its 11 hits in the nightcap during its nine-run fourth inning.

Salibi had a three-run double and Kael Kurtz an RBI double in the nine-run outburst that gave the Little Hawks a 10-1 lead.

“We didn’t score a run against them last year,” Carlson said. “That made for a lot of motivation for us and I think these were two big wins that we needed to get and hopefully we keep our momentum going for the postseason.”

City High sophomore Talon Young earned the win in game two, allowing one run on four hits while striking out four.

After giving up a run in the first, Young shutout the Lightning over the final four innings in the 11-1 five-inning win.

“We knew that behind Jake and Talon they both have a presence to them on the mound,” Brian Mitchell said. “That’s what we were looking for and that’s what we got.”

Salibi, Hicks and Carsen Newton all had two hits for the Little Hawks in game two while Carlson had a hit and scored two runs.

Liberty High dropped to 16-16 on the season with the sweep and has lost five of its last six games.

“Our energy level has really increased,” Jake Mitchell said. “We’ve made a few changes in our lineup but the main this is energy, when we play our best is when we have energy.”

Game 1

Liberty High              000  000  0  –  0  1  2

City High                   010  001  x  –  2  5  1

W – Jake Mitchell                  L – Jackson Khamphilanouvong

2B – ICH: Drew Carlson, Max Waldschmidt, Dominic Salibi

Game 2

Liberty High              100  00  –   1    4   4

City High                   001  91  –  11  11  0    

W – Talon Young                   L – Nolan Sojka

2B – ICL: Luke Ramsey. ICH: Kael Kurtz, Dominic Salibi

Did you enjoy this subscription free article? Help keep Your Prep Sports free by donating.