CARROLL (June 16) -- Connor Bruck stepped up like a true senior leader Tuesday night at Merchants Park, pitching five scoreless innings and going 3-for-4 from the leadoff spot as Harlan Community topped Kuemper Catholic 5-2 in Hawkeye Ten Conference baseball action. The 10th-ranked Cyclones and the Knights are now both 1-1 on the young season. Bruck, who went 8-0 on the mound last year, used an efficient 51 pitches to blank Kuemper for five f

 COUNCIL BLUFFS (June 15) -- St. Albert answered Harlan Community’s two-run top of the sixth with a tie-breaking five spot in the bottom half Monday night, beating the Cyclones 8-3 in the season opener for both state-ranked teams. The Iowa High School Baseball Coaches Association released its preseason rankings Monday with St.

 IRWIN (June 16) -- IKM-Manning broke open a close game with seven runs in the fourth and five in the fifth Tuesday night to put away the Tri-Center softball team 18-8 in five. The Wolves are off to a 1-0 start in the Western Iowa Conference. IKM-M scored its 18 runs on just six hits vs. T-C, taking advantage of 14 walks, five hit batsmen and six Trojan errors.

 MANILLA (June 16) -- Nolan Ramsey’s two-run single put IKM-Manning up 2-1 after an inning Tuesday night, but Tri-Center outscored the Wolves 10-1 during the fourth, fifth and sixth to win Tuesday’s Western Iowa Conference baseball game 11-3 and improve to 2-0. IKM-Manning was playing its first game of the year and struggled defensively behind pitchers Max Nielsen (4 innings), Will Jorgensen (2.7) and Ben Lingle (0.3). Nielsen allowed seven hi

 AVOCA (June 16) -- The AHSTW baseball team followed up Monday’s season-opening 9-3 loss at Tri-Center with a 14-4 home win vs. Riverside Tuesday night for a 1-1 start in Western Iowa Conference play. The Vikings built a 9-0 lead after three innings against the Bulldogs and tacked on three runs in the sixth to end the game by the 10-run rule. Senior Clayton Akers led the offensive attack, going 4-for-5 with five RBI.

 PANAMA (June 12) -- It was a perfect night for some 13U baseball action in Panama Friday night as the Peak Performance Prospects took on the Underwood Venom. The Peak Performance squad features five future Harlan Community players in Bryce Van Baale, Brett Heese, Jozef Reisz, Landen Kaufman and Weston Reisz. Underwood won Friday’s contest after losing to the Prospects earlier in the week.

 HARLAN (June 15) -- As Iowa high school baseball and softball teams begin playing games this week, so too are the youth squads of the Harlan Little League program at JJ Jensen Park. Although boys and girls T-Ball has been cancelled for 2020, the remaining four divisions of Harlan Little League will hold an abbreviated season. For baseball, that includes Minors, 10U, 12U and 13U.

 HARLAN -- Several members of the Harlan Community High School softball team volunteered their time to help coach a group of little league softball girls on Friday night (June 12) at JJ Jensen Park. Following their own practice, the Cyclone varsity players instructed the Harlan C team (grades 3-4) on the fundamentals of throwing and pitching.

 KIMBALLTON -- Andrea Nulle begins her first year as a head softball coach with plenty of familiar faces at Exira-Elk Horn-Kimballton. The Spartans did not have a single senior on last year’s 13-15 squad, which tied for second place (9-5) in the Rolling Valley Conference and advanced to the Class 1A regional semifinals. All but two players have returned from the 2019 varsity roster as Nulle takes over the head coaching duties following one sea

 ELK HORN -- The Exira-Elk Horn-Kimballton baseball team will feature some new faces in 2020 as just four full-time starters return from last year’s 10-12 campaign. The Spartans, who placed sixth in the Rolling Valley Conference at 4-9, graduated five seniors off the 2019 squad, including a trio of all-conference selections in first-teamers Cole Burmeister (.420, 43 stolen bases) and Trey Nelson (.377, 16 RBI) and second-teamer Josh Pettepier

 AVOCA -- Deep, versatile and competitive. That is the type of team AHSTW softball coach G.G. Harris envisions as the Lady Vikes prepare for this year’s three-and-a-half week sprint to the postseason. AHSTW finished 12-11 overall in 2019 and went 9-6 (fourth place) in the Western Iowa Conference.

 AVOCA -- A veteran cast of eight seniors has AHSTW poised for a fun 2020 season on the baseball diamond. The Vikings return seven letter winners - six seniors, one junior - from last year’s 12-12 campaign, and nearly all seven will be playing at least their third season of varsity ball. AHSTW will be looking to improve on a seventh place finish (7-9) in the Western Iowa Conference last year, when it lost to a talented St.

 HARLAN -- While all swim meets have tentatively been cancelled for 2020, the Harlan Summer Swim Team will hold a practice season starting Monday, June 15, at the Norman D. Stamp Aquatic Center. A total of 83 youth swimmers have signed up for the season, which runs through Friday, July 17. On May 17, the Harlan Swim Team Board of Directors voted unanimously to pull out of the Western Iowa Swim League for the 2020 season.

 IRWIN -- With preseason softball practices limited to two weeks this year due to COVID-19 and the season starting three weeks later than scheduled, some have speculated that the players will be less prepared than normal for the first game. IKM-Manning head coach Joy Gross disagrees. Since spring sports were cancelled - along with many other May activities that accompany the end of a school year - softball practice has become a major item on m

 MANILLA -- It won’t be easy in a rugged Western Iowa Conference, but the IKM-Manning baseball team is hoping to sneak up on some teams this summer and improve on last year’s 7-17 overall record. Despite graduating seven senior contributors from last season’s eighth-place WIC squad, the Wolves still bring back eight letter winners as they prep for a June 16 season opener vs.