ANAMOSA — The last time these two teams hooked up on the soccer field, a spirited contest (to say the least) ended in a 2-2 tie at the Anamosa girls’ first-ever tournament back on May 6 against Central DeWitt.

With much more at stake Wednesday, May 31, the Raider girls had their 2006 soccer season stopped short in a class 1A substate soccer quarter-final hosting the Sabers and suffering a disappointing 9-0 setback.

“The problem was DeWitt wasn’t playing the same team they saw the first time we played them at our tournament,” said Anamosa girls soccer coach Jim Conklin.

“We were a much better team three weeks ago. For some reason we really improved as a team during the first few weeks of the season than after the Monticello game, we seemed to take steps backwards. I guess this effort against DeWitt just kind of typified how things were going for us the second half of the season.”

“I do think that made a difference in the way we played and probably added a lot to the way they played too,” said Conklin. “Their crowd wasn’t always positive and did a lot of complaining about every little thing, but they were loud and everyone could hear them. I guess we just didn’t give our crowd enough to cheer about though. It was a rough one.”

Anamosa hung tough with the Sabers through the game’s first 20 minutes.

“We had more chances to score during that span of soccer than we did the rest of the way,” said Conklin. “I thought the game was very balanced through the 20-minute mark of the first half, but after that, well, it was all Central DeWitt.”

The Sabers grabbed a 5-0 halftime lead and with it, stole the spirits of the Raiders as the Central DeWitt offense time and again attacked Anamosa goal tenders Anne Daily and Rachelle Bahl.

“We sure didn’t help them out much,” said Conklin as Central DeWitt fired in 37 shots at the two Raider keepers in the contest. “DeWitt just kept attacking and kept attacking. Our girls tried their best but things got pretty clogged in the middle quite a bit making things even tougher for our keepers.”

The Raider offense managed 10 shots during the contest and had several good looks at the Saber net as well.

“After the first 20 minutes I’d have to give all our girls a grade of an A,” said Conklin as Bryn Gerber topped the Anamosa offensive attack with five shots overall. “I just wish we could have kept that kind of effort up the whole way. It would have made things a lot more interesting.”

Bethany Kula added three shots for the hosts while Brittney May ripped two more at the Saber keeper in the contest.

With the loss ended the career of five Anamosa seniors in Shawna Dolan, Lacey Kurth, Cassie Beadle, Andrea Lorenz and Holli Butler.

“We lose just one starter (Dolan) but a lot of heart from those seniors,” said Conklin. “Next year we’ll be a very experienced team. We went through a lot this year and the girls had to learn on the fly a lot, but next year we’ll be the better for it.”

No. 9 ranked Davenport Assumption edged the Sabers in the class 1A semi-final Thursday, June 1, by a 3-2 score.

“We topped our season with the way we performed at our own tournament this year,” said Conklin. “We played so well that day and against some pretty good teams too. I think when we lost to Monticello that just broke our spirits. The girls had never lost to them before. I expect we will come back next year as a strong and confident team. I’m looking forward to it already.”

TIPTON — They might as well start naming it the Raider title tournament at Tipton after the Anamosa baseball team claimed their third straight Tipton Invitational title Saturday, June 3.

“We talked about winning this tournament again before we got here and we wanted to eliminate some of the mistakes we had been making earlier in the week that had cost us,” said Anamosa baseball coach Byron Schlotterback. “I thought for the most part, we did that in both of these games at Tipton. We played scrappy, solid baseball and played as a team and that’s what put us over the top.”

Anamosa (7-3, 1-0) opened the Tipton tournament against the host Tigers and after exploding for four runs in the third inning, rolled to a 10-4 rout of Tipton in first-round play.

“We capitalized on opportunities and got big hits when we had to have them,” said Schlotterback. “That’s the kind of baseball I like seeing us play. When they walked us, we made them pay and getting so many two-out hits just energized us all day long.”

Greg Vernon scored in the first for the Raiders then three walks led to the big four-run third as Tucker Vondracek, Vernon, Wess Morning and Brandon Gerst all crossed the plate as Anamosa built a 4-0 lead.

Gerst keyed a three-run fourth inning with a two-out, two-run triple.

“Bryce Orcutt threw a nice game for us too,” said Schlotterback. “He didn’t walk anybody and let his defense help him.”

The Jones County 4-H team council also helped in the clean-up and with everything in place, another hillclimb, minus dozens of shade trees normally along the river, took place under beautiful sunshine.

“We couldn’t have ordered up a better day than what we got,” said Wade Schultz. “We do miss all those trees though. We’re looking at getting a grant for tree replacement. If anyone has any information or would like to help with that, contact Denny at 319-489-2361.”

The day was filled with amazing motorcycle marksmanship as riders from ages 14-65 competed as thousands of fans soaked up the sun.

Winning the 370-600 cc 4-stroke class was Paul Hackbarth, of Rock Falls, Illinois making his way up the hill with a time of 5.727 seconds. Marion’s Rick Ness was second in the class with a time of 6.393. Ferlin Hoschar, of Plattsmouth, Nebraska, tallied a time of 6.612 to take third over in the class.

Terry French, of Iowa City, claimed the 370-600 cc novice class making his way up the steep Anamosa hill with a time of 5.053 while Nathan Radmann, of Rochester, Minnesota was second with a time of 5.952. Placing third with a time of 6.566 was Chris Senn of Amboy, Illinois.

Lucas Haas, Jr., of Lodi, Wisconsin was tops in the 370-600 cc expert class racing his way up the hill with a blistering 4.795 clocking while Lisbon’s Wade Schultz was runner-up with a sparkling time of 4.820. Lloyd Haas, of Elizabeth, Illinois also cracked the five-second barrier posting a time of 4.987 seconds to place third in the very talented class.

Robert Crowder, of Amasa, Michigan, won the 601-750cc novice class coming through with a time of 6.056 while Robert and Chris Senn, of Amboy, Illinois were second and third with a time of 11.418 seconds and 130 feet.

Wade Schultz picked up a title in the 601-750cc expert class posting a time of 4.814 while Haas was runner-up with a time of 5.010. Boots Weber, of Wathena, Kansas, was third in the class tallying a time of 7.387.

Coming through with the top time at the hillclimb was Wade Schultz after winning the open class with an amazing 4.300 seconds working his way up the amazingly steep hill.

Nate Simenec, of Coal Valley, Illinois, posted the second-best time in the class which also happened to be the second-best clocking on the day after he made his way up the hill in 4.729 seconds. Wade’s brother Lane finished third in the open class posting a fine time of 4.849.

“We’re happy to see so many people out here on such a great day,” said Denny Schultz. “We have a lot of fun doing this.”

ANAMOSA — They played well enough to win on so many occasions during their first week on the softball diamonds, but for one reason or another, a win just didn’t materialize for the Anamosa girls suffering numerous narrow defeats.

“If we played six-inning games, we’d be a pretty good softball team right now,” said Raider softball coach Gary Stamp as his club was handed five late-inning losses during a frustrating first week of competition. “We just need to learn from these losses and grow as a softball team. We’re young and this is just the first week of the season, but it is a pretty tough way to start.”

The Raiders competed at the Tipton Invitational Saturday, June 3, and opened against Marion who handed Anamosa one of those late-inning losses in a 3-2 setback.

Anamosa (0-7) scored two runs in the top of the first inning as Paige Goetz scored on a wild pitch and Megan Carpenter brought home Traci Dirks with a two-out single.

The Indians, coached by former long time Raider softball boss Chuck Smith, answered with a run of their own in the bottom half of the frame and the score stayed 2-1 until the fateful seventh stanza.

“After that first inning we didn’t get anybody past first base,” said Stamp.

Field coverage
Raider junior Traci Dirks fires to first for an out during Anamosa’s opening-round 3-2 setback against Marion at the annual Tipton Invitational Saturday, June 3, while Megan Carpenter and Mallory Lacy (3) watch. (Journal-Eureka photo by Daryl Schepanski)

“Our defense really let us down too. All three of their runs were unearned. We just made mistakes at the wrong times.”

Marion scored a pair of runs in the bottom of the seventh inning stealing the one-run triumph.

Sara Schultejans led the six-hit Raider offense with two singles while Lacy worked 6 2/3 innings of five-hit softball in the pitchers’ circle fanning two Marion batters.

Anamosa tangled with the host Tigers next and again had a late lead disappear in a 6-4 final.

“That game really stole out spirit,” said Stamp. “I think with the weight of everything all week having so many close games not go our way at the end, we were done after this one.”

The Raiders took a 2-0 lead after Goetz scored in the first and Carpenter in the second. After Tipton plated three runs in the top of the third, Goetz scored again to knot the score in Anamosa’s half of the frame.

The game stayed tied until the sixth when Kayla Sanborn crossed the plate pinch-running for Carpenter who had singled with two outs. A Schultejans single brought Sanborn home.

“The problem was we had the Stamp-factor working against us in this one,” said Stamp who coached at Tipton before coming to Anamosa. “Tipton teams always seem to play well against Stamp-coached teams for whatever reason and they did again here too.”

In the top of the seventh the Tigers scored three huge runs to post the two-run triumph.

“You have to give the credit to Tipton,” said Stamp. “They hit the ball in that last inning.”

The final game of the Tipton tournament for the Raiders saw a 10-0, five-inning setback against Wilton.

Goetz tallied the Raiders’ lone hit in the contest.

The season started for the class 3A No. 13 ranked Anamosa girls at class 2A No. 1 ranked Solon Monday, May 29, who handed the Raiders a lopsided 12-0, four-inning defeat.

Anamosa was no-hit by Solon’s Becca Smith.

The Raiders hit the road again, this time at Mount Vernon, Tuesday, May 30 where they were edged in a 4-2 final against the Mustangs.

Anamosa led 2-1 entering the sixth but a three-run Mount Vernon frame proved to be too much for the Raiders to overcome in the two-run defeat.

Dirks and Emily Jansen scored for the visitors in the opening frame but the Raiders went scoreless the rest of the way.

“We had some opportunities, but just couldn’t capitalize,” said Stamp. “Overall this was a pretty good softball game. We didn’t beat ourselves.”

Dirks and Jansen led the five-hit Raider offense with a pair of hits each while Dakota Ahrendsen added the other safety for the visitors.

Anamosa opened their 2006 home slate Wednesday, May 31, battling Vinton-Shellsburg to the wire before being handed a narrow 3-1 defeat.

“We’ve got a lot of new faces in new places so we’re still making the proper adjustments,” said Stamp. “This was another decent ball game. We had base-runners but once again just couldn’t get the big hit when we needed it.”

Trailing 1-0 in the fourth, Kelsi Dearborn singled home Sanborn with the game-tying run, but a two-run Viking seventh sealed the Raiders’ fate in the defeat.

The Raiders hosted Mount Pleasant Thursday, June 1, and after leading 2-1 into the seventh, were handed a 4-2 defeat after the Panthers scored three runs in the top of the seventh.

“We’re frustrated but we’re going to keep working,” said Stamp. “We hurt ourselves in this one.
We made some errors and mental mistakes that helped Mount Pleasant win this one in the seventh.”