Jefferson High School - Cedar Rapids, Iowa

J-Hawks raise record to 32-6

MANCHESTER - The sixth-ranked Jefferson softball finished the regular season with a 32-6 record Wednesday with a 5-2 victory over West Delaware in Manchester.

Alissa Good raised her record to 15-1 with the triumph. Kennedy Dighton went 3-for-4 with two RBIs and Maddie Hansen was 2-for-4.

The J-Hawks will host Dubuque Hempstead or Clinton in the Class 5A regional semifinals Saturday at 7 p.m.

Larson's bat sends J-Hawks past Kennedy

Jefferson’s Lucas Larson and Kennedy’s Zach Daniels played for years on the same youth league baseball team from the time they were little kids.

But until Tuesday night, the J-Hawk junior had never batted against the Cougars' ace pitcher.

And he wasn’t very nice to his childhood pal.

Larson’s doubles in the first and fifth innings served as a warm-up for his dramatic last at bat:

Score tied 5-5 with two outs and the bases empty in the bottom of the seventh inning. With one strike against him, Larson is looking for another fast ball, but instead Daniels dishes up a change-up.

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Jefferson girls claim MVC title

IOWA CITY - Kennedy Dighton hit a two-run homer as Jefferson clipped Iowa City West, 6-2, in the second game of a doubleheader to claim an outright division title in the Mississippi Valley Conference Monday.

Iowa City West won the first game in a marathon, 2-0, in 13 innings and could have tied the J-Hawks for the division crown by winning the second game.

Jefferson raised its overall record to 31-6.

Lizarraga shines as Cougars dump J-Hawks

Sammy Lizarraga could have a big decision to make when it comes time for him to play college baseball in two years.

He's been an outstanding catcher since he was a little kid, but now he's developed into one of the top pitchers in the state as well.

Lizarraga tossed a two-hitter Monday and collected five RBIs as No. 3 Kennedy thumped Jefferson, 11-1, in five innings at Bill Herkelman Field.

A scout from Northern Illinois University clocked Lizarraga's fastball at 87 mph early in the game, a significant jump from his best heater last year as a sophomore. He struck out three straight batters in the fifth inning to end the game.

Lizarraga, a lanky 6-foot-4 right-hander, isn't sure what he'll do in college.

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Fowler makes it back to spark J-Hawks

Jefferson’s Savannah Fowler is finally getting to savor her senior softball season.

She’s been on the team since the eighth grade, but this was to be her first year as a starter. The last two she was used exclusively as a fleet-footed pinch runner.

But in the third game of the season she was smacked on the left side of the face by a thrown ball as she was beating out a hit at first base. The spindly, spunky outfielder still finished both games of the doubleheader before going to the hospital to find her jaw was broken in two places.

Her mouth has been wired shut until she returned to the lineup this past weekend.

And on the J-Hawks’ Senior Night Thursday she collected a hit in each game and drove in a run to help Jefferson (30-5, 21-3 MVC) sweep Kennedy, 5-0 and 7-0.

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Cedar Falls takes 2 from J-Hawks

Cedar Falls took a pair of Mississippi Valley Conference baseball games Thursday from Jefferson, winning 12-2 and 4-3 at Jefferson.

It was the first home games for the J-Hawks since their field was damaged in a storm June 16.

Jefferson fell behind 4-0 in the second game and rallied to within a single run after six, but could not finish the comeback.

Lucas Larson had two hits for Jefferson in the nightcap. Sam Meyer took the loss, allowing three earned runs in six innings. He struck out seven.

The J-Hawks could not get much going in the opener against Michael Kuntz, who allowed only five hits and two runs. Colton Knox had a double for Jefferson.

GAME 1

Cedar Falls          010 503 3 - 12 12 3
Jefferson            001 000 1 - 2  5  4

W - Kuntz. L - Koering.

GAME 2

Cedar Falls          301 000 0 - 4 7 1
Jefferson            002 001 0 - 3 6 2

W - Schiefelbein. L - Meyer

Prairie pops back into softball rankings

Cedar Rapids Prairie returned to the Class 5A softball rankings Thursday in the No. 10 spot, according to the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union.

The Hawks were ranked 8th, 9th or 10th in the first four polls this season before dropping out last week.

Cedar Rapids Jefferson dropped two spots to No. 6 in Class 5A. The Xavier Saints remained fifth in the Class 4A rankings.

Johnston is ranked No. 1 in Class 5A and Dallas Center-Grimes is No. 1 in Class 4A.

CLASS 5A

1. Johnston (27-2), 2. Dowling (23-8), 3. West Des Moines Valley (22-8), 4. Southeast Polk (24-9), 5. Muscatine (30-3), 6. Jefferson (28-5), 7. Iowa City West (24-7), 8. Pleasant Valley (21-6), 9. Waukee (19-12), 10. Prairie (23-9).

CLASS 4A

1. Dallas Center-Grimes (30-1), 2. Fort Dodge (27-7), 3. Solon (31-1), 4. Carlisle (26-2), 5. Xavier (25-5), 6. Ballard (23-5), 7. Davenport Assumption (26-9), 8. West Delaware (25-5), 9. Fairfield (23-6), 10. Oskaloosa (26-3), 11. Norwalk (22-10), 12. Keokuk (21-10), 13. Indianola (17-10), 14. Waverly-Shell Rock (26-6), 15. North Scott (16-9).

Jefferson baseball game has strange ending

CLINTON - The Jefferson High School baseball game with Clinton ended in a 9-9 tie Wednesday night following a controversial play in the bottom of the seventh inning that led to hard feelings on both sides.

Clinton trailed, 9-8, in the bottom of the seventh with one out and runners on second and third. The tying run scored on a single to center, but the throw from Jefferson center fielder Cam Frazier to catcher Ben Koering beat the second runner to the plate.

The runner tried to jump over Koering instead of sliding or going around him. The runner was called out, but Jefferson Coach Kyle Rodenkirk thought the runner should have been ejected for leaving his feet like that, according to the rules, but the home-plate umpire disagreed.

There was contact between the runner and the catcher.

"Our catcher caught it and had the guy out by about three steps," said Rodenkirk. "He tried to leap over our catcher, and our catcher's natural instinct was to put your shoulder down.

"Some words were exchanged by both parties," said Rodenkirk. "I ran to get my guys away from the action. Our dugout stayed good, they stayed put. We all kept our cool pretty good. Their dugout kind of came out."

Order was restored and play resumed. Jefferson got the third out in the bottom of the seventh with the score tied, 9-9, forcing extra innings.

It had been raining for much of the game and the field was wet. Before Jefferson could bat in the top of the eighth inning, Clinton decided to end the contest.

"Their coach said, 'Hey, I don't want to beat up our field any more. Let's just call it a tie,'" Rodenkirk related.

The J-Hawks got on their bus and came home.

"I'm just happy nobody came out of that with a bad injury," said Rodenkirk. "It could have easily happened."

No. 4 J-Hawks net pair of shutouts

Alyssa Olson and Alissa Good tossed shutouts Tuesday night as No. 4 Jefferson swept a Mississippi Valley Conference twinbill from Iowa City High, 10-0 in six innings and 6-0, at Niemeyer Field.

Olson raised her record to 14-4 in the 10-0 victory. Hannah Towns was 3-for-4 and drove in two runs. Kennedy Dighton was 2-for-4 with two RBIs. Avery Guy also had two hits.

Good raised her mark to 12-1 in the nightcap. Guy and Katelyn Holub were 2-for-3. Tori Brandon drove in two runs.

The J-Hawks raised their record to 28-5.