Showdown ends in split with Wildcats

  DURANT — The River Valley Conference produces many matchups between ranked teams. Last Monday, June 3rd was no di erent. The top-ranked team in Class 2A, Durant Wildcats, hosted Class 3A No. 9 West Liberty. There, each team claimed a victory with West Liberty winning game one and Durant winning game two.
  In-game one, The Wildcats lost their second straight game, a 3-1 West Liberty win. Durant lost their last game of the tournament in Iowa City they were playing in two days earlier. West Liberty scored rst with two runs in the first inning and added a single run in the second to take a 3-0 lead. The Wildcats pushed their only run across the plate in the bottom of the seventh. Durant loaded the bases, but Comet starting pitcher Isabelle True struck out Mallory Warner to get the win for West Liberty. True was the winning pitcher, striking out 11 to improve to 2-0 this season. She is a transfer from Louisa-Muscatine and helped the Falcons win the 2018 Class 2A state title. Kamryn Meyer took the loss after striking out 13 Comets and walking two. She gave up six hits and three runs. Durant had seven hits in the game. Ruby Kappeler and Hannah Happ each had two hits. Happ had two stolen bases while Kappeler had a stolen base and reached base via a walk.
  In game two, West Liberty scored rst with a single run in the inning. Durant responded with two runs in their half of the first to lead 2-1 after the rst inning. That score held until the bottom of the fifth when Durant pushed across two runs to extend their lead to 4-1. 

  Meyer was the winning pitcher after pitching all seven innings. She struck out 10, walked three and gave up one unearned run on two hits. Durant had eight hits in the game. Allie Poston was 3-for-3 with a double and RBI to lead Durant. Ruby Kappeler was 2-for-4 with a double and two runs scored. Han- nah Happ, Kylie Kay, and Mallory Warner each had hits.

Wildcats Pound Bellevue, 15-1 In 6 innings
  BELLEVUE — The Durant softball team made their longest road trip of the season on June 4 when they traveled to Bellevue. There, the Wild- cats dominated the Comets, winning 15-1 in six innings. The Comets upset the Wildcats last summer in a Class 2A Regional seminal in Durant so getting this win was extra special.
 Jenna Lawson got the win and pitched a complete game over six innings. She gave up three hits and one run. Lawson struck out seven and did not walk a batter.
  Durant jumped to a 4-0 lead in the top of the first to take control of the game. The Wildcats added three runs in the top of the second for a 7-0 lead. In all Durant scored runs in each of the first four innings and five of six innings of the game. Durant put the game away in the top of the sixth. Leading 10-1, the Wildcats put up ve runs to take a 15-1 lead.
 Durant had nine hits led by Jada Rock and Mal- lory Warner with two hits each. Durant hit two home runs in the game. Both Jada Rock and Allie Poston had a home run and 3 RBI’s. Ruby Kappeler had a hit, 2 RBI’s, 2 runs scored, 3 walks and 3 stolen bases. In all Durant swiped 15 bases and were issued nine walks. Paige Werthmann, Mal- lory Warner and Kira Schult also had RBI’s.