The Ridge View baseball squad matched up against Westwood on Thursday in Holstein, in a game that was rain-delayed from the previous night. The contest would come down to the final inning, with the Raptors pulling off a one-run victory. The Rebels struck quickly, scoring three runs in the top of the first inning for a 3-0 lead. That score would hold up until the fifth inning, when Ridge View exploded for six runs and a 6-3 lead. After a scoreless sixth inning, Westwood pushed two runs across home plate to trim the margin to 6-5.
A big second inning proved to be the difference for the Ridge View softball team, as they defeated Westwood 6-1 on Thursday in Galva. After a scoreless first inning, the Raptors plated six runs in the second inning. The score would remain 6-0 until the Rebels managed to bring one run home in the sixth inning. That was all the Raptors allowed, however, as they came up with a 6-1 victory.
The OABCIG baseball squad traveled to Onawa on Wednesday, to take on the West Monona Spartans. After two scoreless innings, the Falcons got on the board with three runs in the third inning. In the fifth inning, OABCIG tacked on four more runs for a 7-0 lead. The Falcons put the finishing touch on the game by plating five runs in the seventh inning for a 12-0 shutout victory.
The Raptors and Falcons squared off in Battle Creek on Tuesday in a conference softball matchup. Ridge View got on the board first with a run in the first inning and two more in the second for a 3-0 lead. OABCIG battled back, plating three runs in the third inning to tie the game at 3-3. The Raptors would answer, however, with four runs in the fourth inning for a 7-3 lead. In the fifth inning, Ridge View blew the game wide open, scoring 11 runs compared to the Falcons’ two scores for an 18-5 victory.
The Falcons lost some talented seniors to graduation, but also returned some skilled players. Coach Tyler Johnson talked about the team’s outlook for this summer.
“We graduated a lot of baseball talent in Easton Harms, Zach Hemer, Max Webb, and Zach Thayer,” said Johnson. “But I have several top returning players coming back this year. Treyten Kolar will be our top returning hitter and pitcher. Other top returning players include Damon Dausel, Kelton Ladwig, and Brysen Kolar.”
Johnson has some young players he expects to play bigger roles this season.
The 2023 OABCIG softball squad is ready to step up a notch this season, with everyone but one senior back to play ball. Returning letterwinners include Kenai Nielsen, Jocelynn Maier, Anna Hofffman, Karter Hemer, Kylie West, Kylie Schluter, Halle Montgomery, Stella Remer, Abby Winterrowd, Justice DesChamps and Haley Harms. Falcon coach Summit Nielsen talked about the outlook for the upcoming season.
Ridge View baseball coach Eric Myrtue is counting on his returning starters to propel the Raptors to a successful season. Myrtue talked about who he lost to graduation, as well as who he has coming back.
“We lost a couple of top notch guys in Cameron Spina and Tyhler Kolpin,” he said. “We have big shoes to fill losing them. Cael Myrtue, Tracin Price, Blake Myrtue, Caden Biede, Kinnick Jensen, and Gavin Vohs are our returning guys.”
Myrtue mentioned some younger team members he expects to play a bigger role this year.
The Falcon baseball team got off to a slow start against East Sac in their home opener, but quickly took control of their contest with the Raiders. East Sac got on the board first with a run in the second inning. OABCIG answered with three runs of their own in the third inning to take a 3-1 lead. The Falcons continued to build the margin after that, scoring two runs in the fourth inning, one run in the fifth, and four more in the sixth inning to take a 10-1 lead.
The Ridge View softball team pulled away from Kingsley-Pierson in their season opener at Galva last week, dispatching the Panthers 16-6 in five innings. K-P got on the scoreboard early, taking a 3-0 lead in the first inning. The Raptors responded with four runs of their own to retake the lead at 4-3 after one. Ridge View steadily pulled away from there, scoring two runs in the second inning, plating four runs in both the third and fourth inning, and tacking on two more runs in the fifth inning to ten-run rule the Panthers at 16-6 after five.
