Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – A doubleheader split can sometimes feel like a win and other times feel like a loss.

City High head coach Jeff Koenig was putting his team’s doubleheader split with Mississippi Valley Conference rival Waterloo West in the win column.

City High snapped a six-game losing skid with an 8-2 win in the opener against the WaHawks and dropped the nightcap 4-3 in nine innings on Tuesday at Mercer Park in Iowa City.

“Tonight I’ll take it as a win because we’ve been kind of struggling,” Koenig said. “Even though it’s a split and you want a sweep, especially when you win the first one, but I’ll take it as a win going into West High tomorrow.”

City High (9-18) got a pair of strong pitching performances from junior Quinn Brende and sophomore Sophie Price on Tuesday but couldn’t quite complete the sweep.

Brende earned the win in the opener allowing two runs on nine hits while striking out two and walking one.

City High hammered 14 hits in the game-one win, including eight extra-base hits.

Maeve Obermueller led the way going 4-for-4 with a pair of triples and a double in the opener.

Obermueller drove in two runs and scored two runs while sophomore Iyana Merino was 3-for-4 with three doubles and an RBI.

“We were hitting across the board, it’s definitely contagious one through nine we were hitting across the board,” Obermueller said. “We drove the ball and found gaps.”

City High trailed 2-0 entering the bottom of the fifth but scored eight runs in its final two innings.

Obemueller started a three-run Little Hawk fifth inning with a double and scored on an Eliza Mitchell triple to center field.

“I am thinking every pitch I can hit,” Obermueller said. “I’m thinking ‘yes, yes, yes’ just really positive self talk and I was seeing it well.”

Mitchell scored on an Eve Vitense sac fly and Merino doubled and scored on a single by Vivian Heller to give the Little Hawks a 3-2 lead.

City High added five more runs in the sixth.

Obermueller had a two-run triple and Merino an RBI double in the five-run sixth.

City High couldn’t find the same type of offensive success in the nightcap.

Waterloo West starter Kayonna Turner limited the Little Hawks to six hits in a nine-inning complete game effort.

“That first game we kind of put everything together, hitting was contagious and the second game we couldn’t figure her out,” Koenig said. “We just didn’t square up two or three balls in a row like we did in the first game.”

Price nearly matched Turner for nine innings.

The sophomore right-hander allowed four runs on 13 hits in the nine-inning complete game.

“Sophie wasn’t feeling great tonight, she was a little sick before the game and she went out there and was grinding,” Koenig said. “She had a good outing we just couldn’t quite give her the support at the plate.”

Merino and Heller each had two hits in the nightcap to lead City High.

City High will host rival West High in a MVC doubleheader on Wednesday at Mercer Park and travel across town on Friday and Saturday for four games as part of the West High tournament at the University of Iowa softball complex.

“We came into this week saying this was our week to turn the ship a little bit and get ready for postseason play,” Koenig said. “Tomorrow we need to put it all together like we did that first game for two games. If we do that we have a nice week started and then we just need to finish it.”

Game 1

Waterloo West          000  110  0  –  2   9   1

Liberty High              000  035  x  –  8  14  2

W – Quinn Brende                  L – Jocelyn Syharath

2B – ICH: Iyana Merino (3), Eve Vitense, Maeve Obermueller. WW: Addy Schoepske, Francesca Dehl

3B – ICH: Maeve Obermueller (2), Eliza Mitchell

Game 2

Waterloo West          000  120  001  –  4  13  4

Liberty High              001  200  000  –  3   6   0

W – Kayonna Turner              L – Sophie Price

2B – WW: Maelyn Wass (2)

3B – WW: Addy Schoepske

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