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The
Official Newspaper of Anamosa, located in Jones County, Iowa
Anamosa News
Since 1855
 Thursday,
June 29, 2006 |
Raiders’ Tri-Rivers ride gets rough
By
Daryl Schepanski - Sports Editor |
CASCADE — Things were rolling along very smoothly for the Anamosa softball team having posted six straight Tri-Rivers Conference triumphs entering their contests at Cascade Monday, June 19, as coach Gary Stamp still had hopes of his club defending their league title.
That’s where the Raiders’ conference ride got a little bumpy suffering a pair of bitter defeats at the hands of the Cougars.
“We’ve jumped out and taken leads all year long and we did it again here,” said Stamp after his club was edged in a 5-4 final in the first game of the doubleheader. “It’s not like we quit playing after those first few innings, but we’ve had an incredibly hard time holding leads late in the game and we had that happen to us again too.”
Anamosa (7-18, 6-6) trailed Cascade 1-0 heading into the third inning where the Raiders scored three times as Kayla Sanborn, Cammy Dole and Paige Goetz all crossed the plate in the frame. |
Got it!
Anamosa senior Paige Gapinski shows the umpire the softball after making a sensational catch at first base during the Raiders’ tough 5-4 setback at Cascade in the first game of the doubleheader with the Cougars. (Journal-Eureka photo by Daryl Schepanski) |
Cleared for take-off
Anamosa senior Sara Schultejans steps into a Cascade pitch and rips the softball to deep right field for a double during the Raiders’ wild 8-7 second game loss against the Cougars in Tri-Rivers Conference doubleheader action Monday, June 19. The defeat snapped a six-game winning streak in league play for the Anamosa softball team. (Journal-Eureka photo by Daryl Schepanski) |
After the Cougars tied it in the bottom half of the frame, the Raiders once again took a lead when Traci Dirks drove home Maisie Timp with the go-ahead run in the fifth.
“Good teams need to find a way to put other teams away and so far this year in quite a few of our games, we haven’t found a way to put away the other team and Cascade found a way to take another one from us,” said Stamp. “We can be a good team. We play like a good team most of the time. But for some reason the last couple of innings just seem to work against us.”
Cascade tied the score with a run in the bottom of the fifth then took the lead with another in the sixth to seal their 5-4 win.
Goetz led the Anamosa offense that ripped nine hits overall with three singles while Dakota Ahrendsen and Chelsey Bildstein added two hits each for the visitors.
Kelsi Dearborn worked the game in the pitchers’ circle and fanned three in her six innings. |
The second game saw more Raider heartbreak in a bitter 8-7 loss to the Cougars.
Anamosa led 7-5 into the sixth inning when Cascade scored three times thanks in large part to two Raider errors in the frame.
“I’m second-guessing myself after this one,” said Stamp. “We had a chance to tie the game in the seventh with Kayla Sanborn on third and Cammy Dole up and for some reason I didn’t call the bunt sign to squeeze her in. There wasn’t any reason I shouldn’t have bunted her there but I just wasn’t thinking. I wish I had that one to do back again.”
Anamosa bats were loud tallying 10 hits but six Raider errors defensively led to six unearned Cougar runs.
“We are sure due for a break or two,” said Stamp. “Down the stretch things just don’t seem to go our way but we have to keep playing softball to the best of our abilities and keep making the plays and hopefully that stuff will work itself out.”
Jansen led Anamosa with three hits while Mallory Lacy worked the pitchers’ circle and allowed just two earned runs and fanned an impressive six Cougar batters in defeat.
The Raiders looked to rebound and start another conference winning streak at East Buchanan Friday, June 23, but saw a late 2-1 lead disappear against the Buccaneers in the first game of the doubleheader suffering a 3-2 defeat.
“Same old story,” said Stamp. “We take a lead, we lose a lead. You just have to tip your cap to East Buchanan on this one. They hit the ball when they had to and won it. We didn’t give it to them. They earned this win.”
The Raiders trailed 1-0 into the sixth inning when Goetz and Jansen both crossed the plate to give the visitors a one-run advantage. But the Buccaneers wasted little time in getting their lead back plating two runs with three hits in the bottom half of the frame to win.
“Mallory pitched a great ball game,” said Stamp. “She was ahead in the count all night long.
East Buchanan is a good team too. They came into this game with a 14-5 record.”
Goetz paced the Anamosa offense with three hits including a double and a triple while Lacy tossed a seven-hitter in the pitchers’ circle and fanned four.
The second game saw East Buchanan bats come alive late as the Raiders took a 3-2 lead into the fifth but ended with a tough 8-3 loss at the hands of the Buccaneers.
“Once again we trailed early, battled back to take a lead and lost it,” said Stamp. “We’re almost getting to the point now we’re starting to look over our shoulder after we take a lead and wonder when we’re going to lose it. You just can’t play softball that way and we need to work through this the best we can and that’s by playing good, fundamentally sound softball and this team can do that.”
Sara Schultejans, Jansen and Timp all crossed the plate for Anamosa in the fourth frame giving the visitors a 3-2 lead at the time, but a huge four-run fifth and subsequent two-run sixth sealed the Raiders’ fate.
“We weren’t quite as sharp defensively in this one either,” said Stamp. “The kids are trying though. I can never fault their effort.”
Jansen ripped two hits to lead a four-hit attack.
The Raiders traveled to VanHorne Saturday, June 24, for the annual Benton Community tournament and in the opener against BGM, were handed an eight-inning, 4-2 setback.
“That wasn’t the way we’d hoped to start this tournament,” said Stamp. “BGM is one of the most improved teams I’ve seen from one season to the next. This was a well played game on both sides but when we threw it around a bit in the eighth, that did us in.”
Anamosa trailed 2-0 when Schultejans scored in the fifth. Trailing 2-1 in their final at-bat, Schultejans scored again to knot the score before the late BGM heroics.
Against the host Bobcats, Anamosa rolled to a 5-0 shutout as Laci Dearborn and Ryann Pratt combined on a brilliant two-hitter.
Jansen scored three times as the Raiders took advantage of six Benton Community errors.
Dearborn worked the game’s first six frames in the pitchers’ circle and fanned six while allowing just one hit before giving way to Pratt.
The final game of the day saw a narrow 5-2 setback against a talented Lisbon team.
Trailing 1-0, Goetz scored for the Raiders in the third thanks to an RBI single from Dirks.
Anamosa scored again in the sixth when Pratt crossed the plate trimming the Lion lead to 4-2.
“We kicked the ball around a bit and it led to them scoring all their runs,” said Stamp. “We had runners on base too but just couldn’t get the big hit.”
Kelsi Dearborn worked all six frames in the pitchers’ circle and fanned three. |
 Hopes not crushed at Cascade
By
Daryl Schepanski - Sports Editor |
Gunning down stealers
Anamosa junior Alec Embree throws to second as a Cascade runner attempts to steal during the Raiders game-one 10-2 loss against the host Cougars Monday, June 19. (Journal-Eureka photo by Daryl Schepanski) |
CASCADE — Coming into their huge Tri-Rivers Conference battle at Cascade Monday, June 19, the Anamosa baseball team had done just about everything right in rolling to a perfect 8-0 mark in league play.
“That pretty much stopped in the very first inning against Cascade,” said Raider baseball coach Byron Schlotterback after his club was handed a tough 10-2 setback in the first game of the twin-bill with the Cougars. “We mis-played some fly balls and couldn’t get the bats going and everything we had done so well in conference play to this point all fell apart on us here.”
Anamosa (17-6, 8-3) got their fans buzzing early scoring in the very first inning as Tucker Vondracek worked a walk then came around to score.
“We were hoping that would kind of set a tone for the game,” said Schlotterback. “But what happened later in the first is what actually set the tone.”
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Vondracek, along with Wess Morning and Dan Bierbrodt all worked walks in the opening frame.
In Cascade’s half, two missed fly balls in the outfield led to three huge first inning runs.
“We just didn’t play the kind of baseball we’d been playing to this point,” said Schlotterback. “We don’t usually hurt ourselves with silly errors but they really seemed to jump up and bite us in this series.”
While the Raiders were patient at the plate working six walks off Cougar pitching, Anamosa bats were held to a mere two hits in the eight-run loss.
“You just have to get more than two hits if you’re going to want to play with a team like Cascade,” said Schlotterback. “We struggled with the bats all night long.”
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Blocking the ball
Anamosa sophomore Josh English smothers the baseball at first base recording an out for the Raiders during their tough doubleheader setback in Cascade Monday, June 19. (Journal-Eureka photo by Daryl Schepanski) |
Brandon Gerst and Bryce Orcutt tallied the lone Anamosa hits in the opening contest with Gerst ripping a fourth inning single and Orcutt a sixth-inning double.
Gerst earned the start on the hill and fanned three Cougar batters in his five innings of work allowing three earned runs and seven hits.
“It seemed whenever Cascade needed a big hit, they would come up with one,” said Schlotterback. “This was just one of those nights for us where nothing would go right.
Thankfully, we haven’t had many of them this year, but this was a big one and at the wrong time.”
The second game again saw Raider bats go silent in a 12-0, five-inning loss against the Cougars.
“They had eight hits and we also gave them nine walks and that is not a winning combination,” said Schlotterback. “We put the ball in play offensively, but whenever we seemed to hit the ball hard, it would be right at somebody. When they hit the ball hard, it would find a hole. All that pretty much plays out into the lopsided loss this was for us.”
Cascade scored two first inning runs and led 5-0 before a huge seven-run fourth frame sealed the Raiders’ fate.
“Cascade might very well be one of the most aggressive teams we’ve seen this year and could be one of the most aggressive in the state,” said Schlotterback. “I really wish we could have at least given them our A-game and seen what would have happened, but I guess we’ll never know that now.”
Gerst’s fourth inning double was all the Raider offense in the five-inning contest while Brandon Kula tossed the first three frames from the mound and yielded seven hits and six earned runs to the Cascade offense.
“This didn’t crush our hopes of competing for a conference title, but it sure made things very, very difficult,” said Schlotterback. “We just need to concentrate on playing the kind of baseball we know how to play and get our confidence back.”
If the Raiders Tri-Rivers championship dreams weren’t crushed at Cascade, they might have been Thursday, June 22, as Anamosa, in dire need of a big win, hosted a talented Alburnett club.
“This was a huge game and one we just had to have to get some momentum going again and to hopefully stay in the league chase,” said Schlotterback after his team was handed a tough 2-0 defeat at the hands of the Pirates. “But our offense just didn’t show up. It wasn’t like their pitcher was tougher than anyone we’ve seen this year. He mixed his pitches up well and had us fooled a few times, but our bats just went cold again at the wrong time.”
Alburnett broke a scoreless tie in the second inning plating a run with the help of a big Raider error then added another in the fifth.
“We went from a team getting about 10 hits a game to a team that had five hits all last week,” said Schlotterback. “That kind of production is just not going to get it done against anybody, especially good teams like Cascade and Alburnett.”
Tony Lueken tallied a fifth inning single to break a Pirate no-hitter and Gerst added a sixth inning double to carry the Anamosa offense in the loss.
“It was unfortunate we couldn’t hit the ball because it wouldn’t have taken too much to win this game with the way Wess was throwing on the mound,” said Schlotterback. “Giving up only one hit and no earned runs is a tough way to take a loss.”
Morning, making his first start of the 2006 season after battling his way back from shoulder troubles, pitched five strong innings for the Raiders striking out seven Pirates. Alec Embree worked the final two innings and allowed just a single hit and fanned two more for the hosts.
“It’s gut-check time for us now,” said Schlotterback. “This is our first tough stretch of the season and we’ll have to dig ourselves out of this funk we’re in and finish the season playing solid baseball. There’s still plenty of time left to do it and I know these kids are going to give it all they’ve got too.” |
Swim team finds the stroke
By
Daryl Schepanski - Sports Editor |
ANAMOSA — Hosting their own six-team invitational Sunday, June 25, the Anamosa Swim Team scored 396 points and crowned nine individual champions in topping teams from Mount Vernon, Cascade, Maquoketa, Monticello and Tipton.
Mount Vernon finished second in the team standings scoring 344 points while Cascade was third tallying 325 points. Maquoketa was fourth scoring 311 points while Monticello (154 points) and Tipton (78) rounded out the team scoring.
Anamosa’s Jordan Fliehler and John Carstensen were multiple champions for Anamosa as Fliehler touched the wall first in the boys 15-18 year old 50 yard individual freestyle, 50 yard backstroke and 50 yard breastroke with times of 29.66, 35.25 and 36.81, respectively.
Carstensen was first in the boys 9-10 100 yard individual freestyle posting a 1:56.69 clocking while also winning the 50 yard breastroke with a 57.43 time.
Also winning events at the invitational for the host Anamosa swim team were Abby Weers, Kevin Schepanski, Bryce Engelbart, Tyler Zumbach, Ryan Wageman. Gavin Timp and Katie Schwaegler. |
Cheering section
Anamosa swim team member Brianne Cook (left) cheers on teammate Rachel Schepanski during Anamosa’s invitational Sunday, June 25. (Journal-Eureka photo by Daryl Schepanski) |
Anamosa also hosted a three-team meet Thursday, June 22, and rolled scoring 581 points topping Mount Vernon (432) and Monticello (292).
Engelbart, Sean DeVries and Taylor Timp each claimed three title on the evening.
Engelbart won the boys 15-18 50 yard freestyle (27.69) as well as the 50 yard butterfly (27.69) before claiming the 50 yard backstroke with a time of 35.56.
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Super girl
Katie Serbousek dives into the water for the Anamosa Swim Team during a relay event at Anmaosa’s own invitational Sunday, June 25, at the Aqua Court. Serbousek helped the hosts scoring 396 points in taking the team title. (Journal-Eureka photo by Daryl Schepanski) |
DeVries was tops in the boys 11-12 50 yard butterfly (45.53) as well as the 50 yard backstroke (48.53) and 50 yard breastroke (51.66).
Timp claimed titles in the girls 11-12 100 yard individual medley (1:32.35) as well as the 50 yard butterfly (45.12) and 100 yard freestyle (1:23.79).
Seth Koch, Tawny Baftiri and Wageman all claimed two titles on the evening.
Kaylee DeSotel, Jared Alderdyce, Hailey Harms, Alea Baftiri, Gavin Timp, Kristina Moore, Katie Serbousek and Fliehler all posted one title each for the Anamosa team. |
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