Wednesday night, the Iowa Falls-Alden baseball team took an early 3-0 lead in the third inning and limited a seventh inning rally by Clarion-Goldfield-Dows to two runs for the 5-3 win, as aired on 104.9 KLMJ. The Cadet softball team defeated the Cowgirls 12-2 in five innings.
I-F-A came into the baseball matchup looking to snap a three game slide, and they were able to do so behind another quality outing by freshman pitcher Hayden Reed.
Cadet Head Coach Wyatt Ziesman says Reed is a consistently locked in arm for the Cadets and the team showed resilience in the midst of the Cowboys rally.
“He’s one of those guys that we know day in and day out, we put him on the mound, he’s gonna throw the ball over the plate,” says Ziesman. “He’s not gonna throw it by everybody but that’s why he has a defense. He’s pretty consistent and does not give many free bags so that’s kind of what we rely on with him. When he shows up and we play solid defense we’re in the game. I think that’s resilience of this team. They’re young and that’s a big growing step for them, to fight their way out of that situation instead of folding and giving up there. They’re able to stay with it, compete and help each other push through it. That’s a huge stepping stone for us.”
Andrew Bartlett, Kyler Patton and Brooks Hickman each plated a run for the Cadets. Reed earned the win on the mound working six innings with three strikeouts and allowed one earned run. Brody McNeal earned the save for the Cadets in the seventh. CGD was led by Landon Kakachek, Mason Allen, and Wyatt Decoster who each scored a run apiece.
Iowa Falls-Alden (2-9-1 overall, 2-5 NCC) travels to Clear Lake on Monday. Clarion-Goldfield-Dows (6-9 overall, 1-6 NCC) will host Lake Mills on Thursday in Strikeout Cancer game.
In the softball game, the Cadets started hot with four runs in the first inning. They added one in the second and batted in five runs in the fourth to take a commanding 10-2 lead. They won in walkoff fashion with two runs in the fifth. Abigail Janssen led with three hits and three RBIs. Cidni Phipps pitched the first three innings with one strikeout, no walks and two hits.
IFA (4-6, 3-4 NCC) will be at a tournament at Roland-Story Friday. CGD (0-13, 0-7 NCC) will host Hampton-Dumont-CAL Monday.
