Tigers Survive Knights Rally, Win First Game

Tipton’s Grace Nichols looks to apply the tag on North Cedar’s Morgan Sander (9) during the Tigers road game at North Cedar last week. Tipton beat the Knights 5-4, picking up their first win of the season. The two teams will play Monday, July 3 in Lowden in a first round, class 2A Region 5 posteason game. The winner of that game plays in Durant Wednesday July 5. Photo by Darren Miller. 

By Ryan Stonebraker
Sports Editor, Tipton Conservative

LOWDEN — The Tigers finally get to make a tally in the win column for the 2017 season.  This, comes after a 5-4 road win at North Cedar last Thursday over rival North Cedar.  The win was a long time coming and was only a matter of time, as the Tigers bats were picking up hits and runs were being made, but a win eluded the young Tiger squad.  Not this time.  The Tigers used a seven-hit attack and held off a late North Cedar comeback attempt to get the victory.

North Cedar led 2-0 after scoring single runs in the first and second innings.  An RBI by Anna Petersen in the first and a RBI single by Kayla Syring in the second gave the Knights an early lead.

Tipton got their first run in the top of the third inning.  Tipton sent six batters to the plate.  Hunter Humphrey led off with a single and went to second on Mara Jauron’s ground out.  Humphrey advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on Britney Ford’s fielder’s choice, setting the score at 2-1.  North Cedar took a 3-1 lead after adding a run in the third from a Tipton error.

The 3-1 Knight lead held through four innings.  Tipton’s bats came alive in the top of the fifth.  There, the Tigers nearly batted around, sending eight batters to the plate and scoring four runs to take a 5-3 lead.  All four runs came with two outs after Ford and Rylee Conrad went down on strikeouts by North Cedar starter Alyssa Barnhart.  Tipton’s rally started with an Ashley Mente walk.  That was followed by walks to Laken Hermiston, Bryanna Simmermaker and Morgan Wendel.  Wendel picked up an RBI on the bases loaded walk, getting the score to 3-2 Knights.  Grace Nichols then stepped up and smacked a bases clearing double, scoring Hermiston, Simmermaker and Wendel to give Tipton a 5-3 lead.

The Tigers lead held into the seventh inning.  Tipton could not add to their lead in the top of the seventh despite getting two runners on base.

North Cedar’s hopes didn’t look good in the seventh as the Tigers got the first two Knight batters out to start the inning.  Barnhart reached on a two-out single and went to third on an error on a ball in play by Morgan Sander.  Barnhart scored on an Anna Petersen single to set the score at 5-4.  That is as close as the Knights could get.  Tipton induced a groundout to end the game.

Alyssa Barnhart took the loss after seven innings of work.  She gave up five runs on seven hits.  She walked seven and struck out four Tiger batters.

North Cedar had eight hits in the game led by Barnhart and Anna Petersen each with two hits.  Petersen drove in two runs and Barnhart had three stolen bases.  Morgan Sander, Kassidie Galloway, Katie Thompson and Kayla Syring each had hits in the game.  Syring had one RBI in the game.

North Cedar fell to 4-17 and end the week with RVC North doubleheaders Monday at Camanche and Thursday at home against Cascade.  The Knights will host Tipton in the first round of the class 2A Regional tournament on Monday, July 3 at 7.

Tipton got five of their seven hits from their number-8 and number-9 batters in the order.  Third baseman Grace Nichols was 3-for-4 with a double and 3 RBI’s and Hunter Humphrey was 2-for-4 to lead Tipton.  Mara Jauron and Rylee Conrad also collected hits in the game.  Ashley Mente and Laken Hermiston each reached base via two walks.

Morgan Wendel was the winning pitcher with a seven-inning complete game.  Wendel gave up four runs on eight hits.  She struck out four and walked one batter.

Tigers Drop Two At Davenport North

DAVENPORT — The Tigers traveled to Davenport North last Wednesday, June 21 and had to dodge rainy weather to get their non-conference doubleheader in with the Wildcats.  There, Davenport North won both games, by a game one score of 11-1 and a game two score of 12-1.

In game one, Tipton trailed 5-0 before the Tigers scored their first run to set the score at 5-1.

Tipton had six hits in the game led by Ashley Mente and Laken Hermiston each with two hits.  Kelsi Hein and Mara Jauron each had hits.  Mente had the only RBI for the Tigers and Britney Ford had a stolen base for the Tigers.

Morgan Wendel took the loss after working five inings where she gave up 11 runs on 11 hits.  She struck out two and walked two batters.

In game two, Tipton lost 12-1.  Davenport North scord five runs in the bottom of the first to take control of the game.  Tipton scored their run in the top of the third to set the score at 8-1.

Tipton had three hits in the game, one each from Laken Hermiston, Bryanna Simmermaker and Morgan Wendel.  Lake Hermiston drove in the only Tipton run and Kelsi Hein had two of the five walks by Tiger batters in the game.

Tigers start ‘road’ week with 15-5 loss at Central City

CENTRAL CITY — The Tipton softball team began a busy eight-game week on the road last Tuesday, June 20 at Central City.  All eight games were played on the road.  There, the Tigers fell 15-5 to Central City, scoring the most runs in a game since a 10-9 loss at Mid-Prairie on June 5.

Central City scored three runs in the bottom of the first to take control of the game.  Tipton cut the Central City lead to 3-2 with two runs in the top of the third and took a 5-4 lead with a three-run fourth.  Central City however grabbed the lead right back with a two-run fourth inning to take a 6-5 lead into the fifth.  In the Central City 5th, they scored nine runs to end the game early, 15-5, by the 10-run mercy rule.

Morgan Wendel was the losing pitcher after five innings.  She struck out two and walked three.  She surrendered 15 runs on seven hits.

Tipton had four hits in the game, led by Hunter Humphrey who was 2-for-2 with a RBI and run scored.  Bryanna Simmermaker, and Morgan Wendel each had hits.  Wendel had a RBI and walked.  Kelsi Hein also had 2 RBI’s in the game.