City High Downs Cross-town Rival West High in Regional Opener
Ryan Murken
Your Prep Sports
IOWA CITY – Early in its regional opener on Thursday City High played with the pressure that comes with being a favorite in the postseason.
Thanks to a four-run fourth inning the Little Hawks now have an opportunity to play with the swagger of an underdog.
City High overcame a one-run deficit with four runs in the fourth inning on its way to a 4-1 win over upset-minded West High (1-35) in a Class 5A, Region 7 quarterfinal in Iowa City.
The win shifts City High (11-24) from favorite to underdog and sends the Little Hawks to seventh-ranked Muscatine (29-5) on Saturday for a Region 7 semifinal at 7 p.m.
“Tonight we felt the pressure a little but Saturday we are going to go down there a little bit like West High did tonight and say ‘hey there probably are not a lot of people that are giving us much of a chance so why not go out there and play the game loose and free and fast and see what happens’,” West High coach Jeff Koenig said. “We can just lay it on the line and see what happens.”
Senior Lexi Ellermeier tossed seven strong innings and sophomore Mckenzie Brown had a three-run double in the four-run City High fourth as the Little Hawks completed a three-game season sweep of West High.
City High swept West High 8-1 and 12-0 in a doubleheader in May.
I think we had a little bit of pressure on us but we were confident we could perform,” Ellermeier said. “I think we felt that pressure but we knew we could do it.”
After feeling the pressure early on Thursday City High needed a rally for the shot at a semifinal upset.
West High snapped a scoreless tie with a run in the top of the fourth.
Whitney Noeller led off the fourth with a single to left field and scored on a two-out single by Aarianna Shaw.
“We talked about playing with that pressure ever since we knew it was West High,” Koenig said. “We knew they were coming off a win and we knew they were going to want to come in and play freely and we absolutely pressed in the first few innings.”
City High immediately responded.
Maeve Obermueller led off the bottom of the inning with a single, Mackenzie Dvorsky singled with one out and Avy Lindsey was hit by a pitch to load the bases.
City High pulled even when Dvorsky scored on an error on a Lexi Ellermeier ground ball.
The big blow came off the bat of Brown, a bases clearing, three-run double to center that gave City High a 4-1 lead.
“I was just trying to hit the ball hard,” Brown said. “The at bat before I had popped it up so I was just trying to hit something hard.”
Kendra Mescher drew a leadoff walk in the fifth but Ellermeier retired the final nine batters to secure the win.
“I think that was big for us to answer right away and take that lead and then to go out and play defense like we are capable of,” Koenig said. “Answering immediately keeps you from chasing the rest of the way and that’s huge.”
Ellermeier allowed three hits and four walks while striking out four in the compete game win.
“I felt good about my rise ball tonight,” Ellermeier said. “I got a lot of outs on that. Some games it doesn’t work as well as others but when I am getting striking girls out it’s usually with the rise.”
City High now turns its attention to top-seed and seventh-ranked Muscatine which defeated City High 14-5 in a regular season matchup on June 3.
“I feel really good about it, all you have to do is lay it all out there,” Ellermeier said. “That’s all you can really do.”
West High 000 100 0 – 1 3 1
City High 000 400 x – 4 7 0
W – Lexi Ellermeier L – Mari Butler
2B – ICH: Avy Lindsey, Mckenzie Brown
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