With lightning spotted, play in the Fort Dodge vs. West Des Moines Dowling game was stopped at 8:53 p.m. Wednesday after 15 minutes of play. Fort Dodge scored in the bottom of the first inning for a 1-0 lead. After an hour delay with rain and continued lightning, the Iowa High School Athletic Association decided to suspend the game. Play will resume with Dowling at bat in the top of the second.
Alex Hayden of the Cedar Rapids Kennedy Cougars shut down Linn-Mar to defeat the Lions by a score of 13-1 at Principal Park. five innings of shutout baseball. Top ranked Ankeny scored seven runs in the first enroute to a 14-4 win over Davenport North.
Third ranked West Des Moines Valley jumped out to a 6-0 lead then held off a rally by fifth rated Iowa City West for a 10-5 victory in a class 4A quarterfinal round game. Tiger first baseman Austin Stephens had a two run homer to left as part of a four run fifth inning.
Stephen says the Tigers are playing their best at the right time. He says it’s nice to get the first state tournament win under their belts and they can hopefully keep it rolling.
West rallied with four runs in the bottom of the fifth and the Trojans got to within 6-5 before Valley put the game away by scoring four runs in the top of the seventh.
West coach Charlie Stumpf says his team gave a great effort to get back into the game. “I thought we did a good job at the plate like usual…from where we were to have the tying runs on is all you can ask,” He says. Stumpf says Valley is a deep team that hits well and played better than his team.