Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – There was a lot for City High to like about what it did in its postseason opener on Thursday.

The Little Hawks hammered 10 hits in four innings and played nearly flawless defense in its Region 8 quarterfinal against Davenport West.

The most impressive element of the Little Hawks 9-0 five-inning win over the Falcons at Mercer Park was the performance of junior pitcher Quinn Brende.

Brende tossed five innings of no hit softball as City High (16-22) advanced to take on eighth-ranked Waukee (18-18) on Saturday in the Region 8 semifinal in Waukee.

“The outside part of the plate was working for me a lot,” Brende said. “I liked my drop, I like to change speeds a lot and my defense behind me really clicking today helped me feel pretty confident in throwing all my pitches.”

Brende allowed just two base runners, on a walk and the lone City High error, while holding the Falcons hitless for five innings.

The junior right-hander threw 45 of her 56 pitches for strikes as City High posted its third shutout of the season.

“They didn’t have hard hit balls and we played good defense,” City High coach Jeff Koenig said. “We backed her up with some runs early and that helped but I thought she was locked in. I thought she responded extremely well and she kept her pitch count down tonight well and that’s huge because we go again on Saturday.”

City High took an early lead when Maeve Obermueller singled with one out, stole second and later scored on a Davenport West throwing error.

It remained 1-0 until City High broke the game open with six runs in the third.

Iyana Merino had an RBI single that started a string of three consecutive run-scoring hits for the Little Hawks.

Vivian Heller had an RBI single and Izzy Brown had an RBI double to right center that gave City High a 4-0 lead.

“I think it helped to see the pitcher again,” Brown said. “We were all talking to each other about what we saw and we were feeding off each other’s hits.”

Ellie Fraga added an RBI double in the six-run City High third in which the Little Hawks ent 10 batters to the plate.

“The first two innings we were just seeing the pitcher and we made some adjustments,” City High sophomore shortstop Eve Vitense said. “We came back and we listened to our teammates and had a lot of really good hits.”

That was all the support that Brende would need.

Brende retired the side in order in the fourth and City High added two more runs in the bottom of the inning highlighted by another RBI single by Heller.

“I think we are clicking really well,” Brende said. “I think that we made the adjustments and I am proud of the way we are peaking at the end of the season. That’s the time to peak.”

Brende didn’t strike out a batter but City High played clean defense behind its junior starter.

“It’s a huge confident boost when our defense is playing great like they were today,” Brende said. “There is no doubt in my mind that if I hit my spots they are going to make the play and I know that they have my back if I make a mistake I know they are going to pick me up.”

Heller was 2-for-3 with two RBI while Brown and Obermueller each added two hits.

Fraga had a hit and drove in a run while Merino and Hayden Muhlenbruch each drove in a run.

The next challenge for City High is a road game at eighth-ranked Waukee.

The Warriors have 16 losses to ranked teams this season.

“We need to continue to do what we did tonight,” Brown said. “We need to string hits together, Quinn can keep pitching amazing and we can clean up our fielding a little but we need to just keep doing what we are doing.”

Davenport West                    000  0  0  –   0    0   2

City High                               106  2  x  –   9  10   1

W – Quinn Brende                  L – Madison Sparks

2B – ICH: Ellie Fraga, Izzy Brown

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