Senior Cole Jackson tossed a no hitter and struck out 15 batters as top ranked North Polk beat Maple Valley/Anthon-Oto 7-1 in a class 2A quarterfinal. Jackson says he tried to stay calm and not think about a no hitter during the game. “I checked the scoreboard very inning, but mainly to check my count. I just keep my focus up there, I didn’t really look at the hits as much, I just wanted to know what the count was,” Jackson says. “It turned into a fairy tale in the 7th inning there. I was like ‘Holy Cow’ we actually have this going on.”

Maple Valley/Anthon-Oto used two errors and a wild pitch to score their only run in the fifth inning.

Fifth ranked Roland-Story scored two runs in the first inning and two more in the second to down eighth rated South Winneshiek 4-1 in a class 2A quarterfinal round game. Roland-Story coach Chris Hill thinks tournament experience benefited his team. He says everything went really quick last year and now this year they are more prepared for what is happening and more relaxed.

South Winneshiek coach Ben Oberman is happy the seniors got to experience the state tournament. “It’s tough to say good-bye to them because they got us here for the first time in school history. They’ve paved the way for the next couple of years,” Oberman says.

Behind a four-run second inning, Dyersville Beckman Catholic began defense of its Class 2A title at the 2014 state tournament with a 6-3 victory over Hinton in the quarterfinals at Principal Park on Monday night. Second-ranked Van Meter rallied past Iowa City Regina 2-1