KALONA

The Mid-Prairie Golden Hawks (6-17) hosted the No. 13 ranked Durant Wildcats (14-14) for doubleheader action on Monday, June 24.

The Hawks took game one with a thrilling 10-9 back-and-forth win.

The Hawks had already toppled their ranked River Valley Conference foe once this season, meaning this win gave them a series win over the Wildcats. Their first meeting concluded with a 8-5 road Hawk win on Thursday, June 13.

Mid-Prairie 10, Durant 9

Durant took the early 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning but did not hold it for long.

Rising senior Dakota Mitchell stepped to the plate, leading the Hawks off in the bottom of the first. Mitchell was disciplined at the plate, not swinging her bat once, eventually forcing a walk on five pitches.

Mitchell wasted no time, stealing second base. She advanced to third from a ground-out and scored from a sacrifice fly, tying the game at one.

Durant scored one run in the top of the third, adding two more in the top of the fourth for a commanding 4-1 lead.

The Hawks would cut the lead in half in the bottom of the fourth before rallying in the fifth inning, bringing home four runners to claim their first lead of the night, 6-4.

Durant answered right back, exploding for a five run sixth inning.

Mid-Prairie remained undeterred. They scored one run in the sixth, retired the Durant batters in order and then tied it at nine in the bottom of the seventh. The Hawks left the bases loaded, meaning extra innings were on the horizon.

Mid-Prairie played superb defense in the eighth inning, allowing Mitchell to kick-off their half of the extra inning.

And very similarly to the first inning, Mitchell held a disciplined at bat, not chasing, to walk to first. She immediately stole second base and advanced to third from a sacrifice bunt laid down from Gabi Robertson.

After pitcher Kadence Grout grounded out, the Hawks needed a base hit from rising senior Brenna Jehle to walk-off.

The Wildcats made it easy, tossing a wild pitch to Jehle, giving Mitchell enough time to score the winning run, winning 10-9 in the eighth inning.

The win gave the Hawks a 7-17 record as the Wildcats fell under .500, 14-15.

The Hawks would go on to play one more against Durant.

Linn-Mar/Alburnett Tourney

The Golden Hawks partook in the Linn-Mar/Alburnett Tourney on Saturday, June 22, where they placed last among 16 teams.

Their first matchup was against No. 3 ranked Fort Dodge (19-6). The Hawks jumped to a 1-0 lead but the Dodgers scored two in the third and exploded with a five-run fifth inning to take the 7-1 win.

The Hawks then competed against Alburnett (26-4). Again, Mid-Prairie jumped to an early lead, scoring three in the first inning. They scored another three in the second to hold a 6-1 lead. Alburnett would not be down for long as they brought seven runs home in the bottom of the second to take an 8-6 lead, adding three more in the fifth inning to claim the 11-6 victory.

This led Mid-Prairie to their third outing against Xavier (20-9). Xavier held a 5-0 lead before the Hawks added their lone run of the game in the fourth inning. Xavier would add six more runs to win 10-1.

The three losses put Mid-Prairie in the 15th/16th place game where they lost 4-2 against West Delaware (13-14). All scoring happened in the first three innings: West Delaware jumped to a 1-0 lead in the top of the first. Mid-Prairie took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the second. West Delaware then added three runs in the top of the third and held on for the win.

Regular season finale

The Golden Hawks are entering the final stretch. Their game against the No. 8 ranked Washington Demons for Wednesday, June 26 has been cancelled. Thus, the Hawks next action will be in the Rick Doran Classic, a tournament held at the Iowa Hawkeye Softball Complex in Iowa City on Friday, June 28. The tournament will continue on Saturday, June 29.

On Monday, July 1, the Golden Hawks will host a doubleheader against River Valley – South conference foe West Branch (6-19). The doubleheader will begin at 5 p.m. at Mid-Prairie East.

And finally, on Wednesday, July 3, the Hawks will play in their final regular season outing against the No. 12 ranked West Liberty Comets. This regular season finale will begin at 7 p.m. at Mid-Prairie East.