PORTSMOUTH -- Justin Schaben and Heath Stein both hit a home run and Stein also earned the win on the mound as Portsmouth defeated Persia 6-4 in the championship game of the Iowa Western League Baseball Tournament on Sunday, July 28. Portsmouth outhit Persia 13-8 in the game and both sides committed one error. Schaben had three hits for Portsmouth, including a two-run homer, and Heath Stein also went yard.

Hawkeye Ten All-Conference Baseball

 REGIONAL -- Kylie Powers of Irwin competed well in two rounds of qualifiers for the Drive, Chip & Putt Championships during the past month at Omaha and Fort Dodge. Powers, the daughter of Tom and Sherry Powers and an incoming freshman at IKM-Manning High School this fall, placed third overall in the Girls 14-15 year-old division in a local qualifier held June 30 at Oak Hills Country Club in Omaha.

 BENNINGTON, NEB. -- Earling native Scott Heese has been named the 2018-2019 Nebraska Coaches Association Hudl Baseball Coach of the Year for all classes. Heese was presented his award on July 21 at the NCA Awards Banquet in Lincoln. Coaches of the year are selected by their peers for service to their respective sport and for the success they have had in recent years.

 AREA -- Five players from AHSTW and three from Harlan Community were named to the 2019 Boys All-State Soccer teams released in June by the Iowa High School Soccer Coaches Association. The list of area honorees includes four first-teamers: Seth Kiesel, Brayton Tuma and Adrian Herrera from AHSTW and Levi Culp from HCHS. AHSTW and HCHS both reached the substate final round of the playoffs in Class 1A and 2A, respectively, this past season.

 MISSOURI VALLEY -- Sixty-three members of the Harlan Community Summer Swim Team competed in the Western Iowa Swim League conference meet on Saturday, July 13, at Missouri Valley. Harlan scored 1,278.5 points and won its 13th straight conference crown by a dominating margin to continue its recent run of success.

 HARLAN (July 24) -- Longtime Harlan Community head coach Steve Daeges has often used the phrase, “That’s baseball,” to describe the subtle nuances of the sport, in particular the propensity for any team beating another on any given day. On Wednesday night at Jim Goeser Field, baseball happened to the fifth-ranked Cyclones. Just one win away from extending its incredible streak of state tournament trips to nine in a row, HCHS was upended by an

 HARLAN (July 24) - Harlan Community coaches were disappointed to see their season come to an end on Wednesday, but happy for ADM head coach Jason Book.

 HARLAN (July 22) -- Connor Bruck couldn’t have picked a better spot to notch his third and final strikeout against Winterset. Facing the Huskies’ most dangerous hitter in the left-handed Casey Young, who represented the tying run with two on and two out in the top of the seventh, Bruck jumped ahead in the count and eventually got Young to chase a high fastball for strike three as the fifth-ranked Harlan Community baseball team held on to win

 FORT DODGE -- Former IKM-Manning softball pitcher Peyton Gross was honored at the State Softball Tournament Thursday night (July 25) for being a 100-game winner during her prep career. Gross, the daughter of Paul and Joy Gross, Manilla, was recognized prior to the Class 2A championship game as a new member of the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union’s 100-win club.

 HARLAN (July 19) -- On a hot, humid Friday night, Harlan Community’s Brett Sears and Atlantic’s Chase McLaren battled the elements and each other in a pitchers’ duel that lived up to the hype. Both seniors allowed just four singles and combined for 21 strikeouts, but only HCHS was able to scratch across any runs in a 2-0, Class 3A district baseball semifinal win over the Trojans. Luke Schaben had both RBI for the fifth-ranked Cyclones (25-7)

 HARLAN (July 22) -- Friday’s low-scoring district baseball opener - a 2-0 win over Atlantic - could be a prelude of what’s to come this postseason for fifth-ranked Harlan Community (25-7), which hosted Winterset (22-7) in Monday’s District 15 final. The Huskies held back their ace pitcher, Casey Young, on Friday and beat Carroll 12-2 in five innings.

 COON RAPIDS (July 16) -- IKM-Manning finished the baseball season with a record of 7-17 following last Tuesday’s 10-1 loss at Coon Rapids-Bayard in a Class 1A, District 16 semifinal. The ninth-ranked Crusaders (27-4) broke the game open with a pair of early crooked numbers, scoring three runs in the second inning and five in the third to go up 8-0.

 ANITA -- The Exira-Elk Horn-Kimballton baseball team lost to CAM 7-2 in a Class 1A district quarterfinal game July 13 and finished the season 10-12 overall. The Spartans scored two runs in the top of the first but the host Cougars answered with four in the bottom of the inning and scored three insurance runs in the fifth. Exira-EHK senior Josh Pettepier took the loss, allowing seven hits and four earned runs in a complete game effort.

 HARLAN (July 19) -- Three wins removed from a potential ninth straight trip to state, the Harlan Community baseball team opens district tournament play Friday night against an opponent that will have its full attention. Atlantic (7-17) takes on the fifth-ranked Cyclones (24-7) in the second of two Class 3A District 15 semifinals at Jim Goeser Field. Winterset (21-7) will face Carroll (13-15) at 5:00 p.m.