Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

SOLON – Ellie Dixon was well aware of the reputation City High had developed over the past several seasons.

A combined 28 wins the past three seasons hadn’t exactly made the Little Hawks an imposing figuring on opposing schedules.

Thanks to a youthful, hard swinging, home run hitting lineup City High is building a new and much different reputation this season.

“When teams would play City High they’d think ‘we got this no big deal’,” Dixon a senior shortstop said of past seasons. “Hopefully the way we hit now we have a reputation where teams are like ‘dang we don’t want to play City anymore’.”

City High continued to build on that reputation on Saturday with a pair of wins at the Solon Classic.

The Little Hawks used an Alexa Fredericks walk-off single to down Des Moines Lincoln 10-9 and pounded 14 hits in a 7-3 win over Ottumwa.

City High improved to 18-5 with the two wins on Saturday and has scored 55 runs while winning five of six games since a doubleheader sweep at the hands of 5A No. 7 Cedar Rapids Kennedy on Tuesday.

“Against Kennedy we didn’t hit too well and Thursday we went up to Waterloo East and got behind and then started to square balls up and since then it’s just like the confidence level is through the roof,” City High coach Jeff Koenig said. “These girls, every time they step into the box they are thinking double off the wall or a ball out of the park.”

City High had already shown it was a much-improved team well before a 3-1 performance at the two-day Solon tournament this weekend.

The 18 wins this season are one away from matching the Little Hawks’ total from the previous two seasons combined.

What City High continued to demonstrate in four games at Solon is that it can swing the bats with any team.

City High hit a first-inning home run in three of four tournament games and now has seven home runs in its past six game.

The 22 homers for the Little Hawks this season surpassed the previous school record of 19.

“Our last six games I think we have seven home runs,” Koenig said. “If you throw the ball in the strike out zone we are ready.”

Ayana Lindsey smacked a leadoff home run against Ottumwa that set the tone for the tournament finale.

The eight-grader had four hits, scored three runs and tossed a complete game to earn the win in the 7-3 win over the Bulldogs.

“We just have a lot of confidence,” Lindsey said. “We can hit all the way down the lineup and that’s hard to defend.”

Seven different City High players had a hit against Ottumwa as Dixon had three, including a pair of doubles, and Ella Cook and Brooke Bormann each had two.

“It’s so reassuring knowing that no matter where the lineup is you are confident in your team,” Dixon said. “Even in a close game like with the bottom of our lineup up I’m not worried at all and that’s reassuring.”

Dixon gave City High a 4-1 lead with a two-run double in the third inning and broke the game open with a two-run single up the middle in the fourth.

The lone senior in a young City High lineup, Dixon has been a part of three consecutive sub-.500 seasons.

Dixon has seen a lineup buoyed by the addition of eighth-graders Lindsey, Cook and Carey Koenig buy into the hard-swinging philosophy of its head coach.

“Ultimately its just offseason work,” Dixon said. “We are hitting four times a week in the offseason, we are lifting three times a week I think physically and mentally we are a stronger team and that helps a lot.”

The Little Hawks don’t have a slapper in their lineup, all nine players drive the ball. No Little Hawk got cheated on a swing on Saturday.

“We aren’t really about that, we don’t have any slappers,” Dixon said laughing. “It’s so fun to play like, driving the ball. The team really supports each other, everybody that gets a hit you know that the team has their back.”

City High       103  300  0  –  7  14  3

Ottumwa        001  020  0  –  3  10  2

W – Ayana Lindsey    L – Kacy Nickerson

2B – ICH: Ellie Dixon (2). OTT: Morgan Greiner (2).

HR – ICH: Ayana Lindsey