Just two days following its first win of the season, Mid-Prairie’s softball team found itself at the University of Iowa Softball Complex this past Saturday surrounded by a few high school softball giants.

The Golden Hawks, who were among 16 teams in the tournament, took on Cedar Rapids Prairie, which was ranked in Class 5A until last week.

They also faced Center Point-Urbana, a Class 4A team that reached a regional semifinal last year and whose only losses this year have been to Muscatine, the top-ranked team in Class 5A; and Davenport Assumption and Williamsburg, the top two ranked teams in 3A.

A day before that, the Golden Hawks faced Davenport North, another Class 4A team.

“We’ve been talking about that all year. You look at our schedule and it’s littered with ranked teams,” said Mid-Prairie head coach Matt Hoeppner. “They’re good teams. Cedar Rapids Prairie, I guess, isn’t ranked currently, but they’re going to be back. They’re a heck of a good team.”

The Golden Hawks lost to Center Point-Urbana, 5-3, and CR Prairie, 15-0, at the tournament held at the University of Iowa. But for a team that has three eighth-graders and just one senior (starting pitcher Myah Lugar), it was a big deal.

“Playing games like this, it’s only going to make us better,” Hoeppner said. “We’re young, one senior, not a lot of varsity experience coming back, but they come out and they compete. We’re putting balls in play and making the other team get us out, which is a testament to their hard work.”

Mid-Prairie (1-10) was within striking distance of beating Center Point-Urbana, trailing just 4-3 before the Stormin Pointers scored another run in the seventh inning.

Sophomore outfielder Madeline Schrader had two hits for the Golden Hawks, freshman Gabi Robertson scored twice and eighth-grader Dakota Mitchell had a single and scored on a hit by Schrader.

“It was a one-run game. They snagged one (run) on us there at the end,” Hoeppner said. “We have a little mental errors, there’s a little physical errors, dropping fly balls, missing routine ground balls. But again, those are the growing pains. We talk about that almost every day.

“We’re jumping 8-9-10-11 kids without varsity experience into varsity games with good teams and competing.”

The challenging road continues this week for the Golden Hawks. They play Thursday at Cascade; host Solon, the No. 11 team in 3A, on Friday; and then head to Eddyville for a tournament on Saturday that includes a game against fifth-ranked Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont.

Davenport North 12, M-P 1; Davenport North 8, M-P 2

Eighth-grader Brenna Jehle had three hits in two games to lead the Golden Hawks in a doubleheader played June 4 at Mid-Prairie Middle School, but Davenport North scored a sweep.

Jehle scored the Golden Hawks’ only run in the final inning of the opening game, a 12-1 loss.

Schrader, who leads the team with a .500 batting average, also had two hits for Mid-Prairie in the opener.

Lugar got the pitching start, going 2.2 innings and giving up six runs, and Dawsyn Miller finished up in relief, giving up six runs in 3.1 innings.

Jehle, sophomore infielder/pitcher Landry Pacha, freshman catcher Hannah Sellers and junior Cana Rediger had hits for the Golden Hawks in the second game. Lugar and Pacha scored runs.

Jehle drove in both runs in the opening inning with a single.

Lugar got the start and went four innings in the nightcap, giving up five runs. Pacha finished up over the last three innings, giving up three runs and striking out two.