The Iowa Falls-Alden softball and baseball teams after an unexpected later start to action this week due to weather Monday, will host St.Edmond in North Central Conference play on Wednesday. The Cadets games against Clear Lake on Monday were postponed.
The IFA softball team (4-8, 3-4 NCC) in their last outing fell to Roland-Story and South Hamilton at a tournament on Friday. Isabelle Janssen leads the charge with a .575 avg. (second highest in NCC) and 23 hits.
Head Coach Emily Banken says the crowd helps bring energy at home games and the Cadets need to play tight defense against Gaels.
“Home games are always fun because we get lots of people there to support and the energy is always high,” says Banken. “St. Ed’s is always going to be tough. They have a great senior pitcher, and their bats are pretty lethal. In games like that, if we want to stay in them, we need to play really tight defense all the time.”
#6(1A) St.Edmond(13-5, 7-0 NCC) is sound at the plate and in the field, leading the conference with 126 RBI’s and .950 fielding percentage.
The IFA baseball team (2-10, 2-5 NCC) will play their first game in a week since a 5-3 win over Clarion-Goldfield-Dows on June 12th. Andrew Bartlett leads the team with seven runs driven in.
Head Coach Wyatt Ziesman says the Cadets look to avoid giving up the big inning and fight back in the second round of meetings in conference play.
“There’s some teams that we have some confidence going into those games knowing, we can compete with these guys,” says Ziesman. “We just need to give up that one inning that got us in trouble. Hopefully that’s a little bit momentum instead of folding and giving up that big inning, we’re able to fight through it and the guys do their jobs.”
St.Edmond(6-5, 3-4 NCC) is led by JT Laufersweiler with .357 avg. and 9 RBI’s.
Both games get underway at 7:30 p.m. in Iowa Falls.
