Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

FORT DODGE – If it hadn't already been considered a breakthrough season for City High this summer the Little Hawks smashed down the door in their state tournament opener on Tuesday.  

Sixth-ranked City High (35-7) stormed past third-ranked Cedar Rapids Kennedy in a Class 5A state quarterfinal with a 10-2 statement style win at Harlan Rogers Sports Complex in Fort Dodge.

“I think this is really the breakthrough we needed,” City High sophomore Ella Cook said. “We are so confident, every girl in our lineup was hitting. I feel like this is it for us.”

City High had 11 hits from seven different players in its first winners bracket victory at the state tournament since 1982.

Ayana Lindsey struck out eight in seven strong innings as City High advanced to the state semifinals for the first time in program history.

City High (35-7) will face No. 8 West Des Moines Valley (30-10), a 3-0 winner over No. 2 Fort Dodge on Tuesday, at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday

“This feels really great,” Lindsey said. “But we aren’t done yet.”

No team had scored more than two runs against Cedar Rapids Kennedy (37-3) this season and City High managed just two runs on seven hits in a pair of 2-1 regular season losses to the Cougars.

City High needed a single inning to surpass all those totals on Tuesday putting up seven runs on seven hits in the fourth inning.

The win was the ninth straight for City High and the first for the Little Hawks against Kennedy in five seasons under head coach Jeff Koenig.

“It feels so good, we haven’t beat Kennedy in my high school career,” City High junior Brooke Bormann said. “That was one of our goals this year and we got it so it feels good but we’ve got another game tomorrow.”

City High broke a scoreless game wide open with the seven-run fourth inning that featured hits from five different players.

Bormann provided the biggest blow with a two-out, two-run double off the centerfield fence off Kennedy starter Jayme Scheck.

“I kind of went through a little bit of a slump at the end of the season but I’m coming out of it now and I felt that coming,” Bormann said. “I knew that was coming, I felt like it was supposed to happen.

The double by Bormann gave City High a 2-0 lead and ignited the Little Hawk offense.

“Brook Bormann’s hit was just huge that really opened it up and then we started squaring balls up,” City High coach Jeff Koenig said. “We didn’t square balls all the way up but we put them in play.”

Alexa Fredericks, Cook and Carey Koenig all had RBI singles in the seven-run fourth.

City High sent 12 batters to the plate in the fourth inning in which all seven runs came with two outs.

“This is big for us because we saw how well we can hit the ball and those are two really good pitchers,” Cook said. “It gives us a lot of confidence going into the next round. Our bats are hot and hopefully we can keep it going the next round.”

The Class 5A leader with 54 home runs this season, City High didn’t hit a home run on Tuesday but ripped 11 hits and had at least two hits in three of the final four innings.

“If you would have told me we were going to score 10 runs on Kennedy I would have said we must have hit two or three bombs,” City High coach Jeff Koenig said. “We squared some balls up and put some hits together but normally we would much rather put something out of the park.”

Lindsey earned the win for City High allowing just two runs on five hits in the complete game.

The sophomore struck out eight while picking up her 20th win of the season.

“We just had to really bear down and make sure we made all the plays,” Lindsey said. “I had work really hard pitching and make sure we all kept talking.”

Everyone in a City High uniform was a part of the offensive onslaught against a Kennedy pitching staff that entered with a 5A-best team ERA of .53.

Cook had two hit and drove in two runs for City High while Koenig went 3-for-4 with an RBI.

Makayla Ribble had two hits, Bormann drove in two runs and Brianna Bentler doubled and scored twice.

Eight different Little Hawks scored a run.

“That’s a great team with two great pitchers and just a great squad over there but hitting is contagious,” Koenig said. “Until that last inning when we had a zero in that error column that is probably what I was as proud of as anything. We made every play we had to.”

City High                                  000  702  1  –  10  11  1

Cedar Rapids Kennedy        000  000  2  –   2    5   4

W – Ayana Lindsey                L – Jayme Scheck

2B – ICH: Brooke Bormann, Brianna Bentler. CRK: Addie Parker

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