The Aplington-Parkersburg summer sports teams will play their final doubleheaders of the season at Denver Monday in NICL-Central action.
The baseball team (11-5, 6-4 NICL-C) will look to stay hot, having won nine of their last 11 games. Head Coach Brett Kleespies on the offensive efficiency, involving batters one through nine.
“We’ve had better approaches, we’ve challenged the guys,” Kleespies says. “We had a couple days of practice this week and Friday and Monday, just challenging guys. We did some different stuff at BP, and just kind of put a little bit of pressure on them and just kind of held them accountable a little bit more towards the hitters count. And then down deep in the count, it was one of those things at practice where if you fouled off a strike two, you’re out. And next guy was in. So just challenging guys a little bit. And they responded, had a good couple of practices, fun light practices towards the end of the week last week. Good to have those guys at the bottom where we’re just starting to do what we know they’re capable of doing.”
The Falcons are coming off last week’s wins over Nashua-Plainfield and Hudson. Wednesday’s game at East Marshall was cancelled.
Denver (3-16, 1-9 NICL-C) won for just the third time last week, a 5-1 win over Waterloo Columbus. In their last game, they fell to Jesup 16-11 after holding an 11-10 lead after six innings. Login Hanlin bats .489 to lead the team. The Falcons won 6-2 when the teams met earlier in the season.
The Falcon softball team (6-10, 4-6 NICL-C) will look to end a two-game losing streak, with back-to-back five-inning losses to #11 (2A) East Marshall and Hudson last week. It’ll be among the final opportunities to solidify their record before the release of postseason brackets. Denver (10-14, 3-7 NICL-C) has won consecutive games over Grundy Center and Waterloo Columbus. The Falcons won 11-3 when the teams met earlier in the season.
Both doubleheaders will start at 5:00 p.m.
