The Ridge View softball team wasted little time in taking control of their matchup with OABCIG, racing out to a 7-0 lead after one inning and building the margin to 12-1 after two innings, before cruising to a 13-1 victory. The Raptors were led at the plate by Addison Schmidt, who belted three hits, including two doubles, and drove in three RBI’s. Katie Pickhinke smacked two hits, including a single and a triple, and batted in two RBI’s. Emma Vohs, Sky Henkel, Abby Wandrey, and Beth Mentzer all hit safely for Ridge View, with Henkel smacking a double.
OABCIG baseball coach Tyler Johnson is optimistic about the upcoming baseball season. “We return a solid core of guys,” said Johnson, “including seniors Easton Harms, Zach Hemer, and Max Webb, and juniors Treyten Kolar, Luke Swanger, and Gabe Winterrowd.”
Johnson also has some other players he feels can contribute to the team.
“Some guys to look out for this season are junior Damon Dausel and sophomore Kelton Ladwig, along with a talented host of freshmen.” Coach Johnson noted an area his team needs to work on.
Coach Summit Nielsen and the Falcon softball team are hoping to show improvement after fielding an extremely young team last season. “We had quite the young varsity team last year,” said Nielsen, “starting six freshman and sophomore, so we are hoping that year of experience shows this season.”
Coach Nielsen has already seen some improvement in practice.
“We’ve had some players show us in practice that they’ve made some improvements in their game, and we hope to utilize those skills this year.”
Nielsen talked about some areas her team can improve on.
The Ridge View girls softball team opened their season on a high note Wednesday, defeating Cherokee 13-3 on a cool, rainy night in Galva. The contest was called after five innings due to the ten-run rule. The Raptors took a 5-1 lead after two innings, then outscored the Braves 7-1 in the fourth inning to really break the game open. Winning pitcher Addison Schmidt struck out six batters, and helped her own cause at the plate by smacking four hits, including two doubles, and batting in six RBIs. Emma Vohs also collected four hits including two doubles, and scored four runs.
The Ridge View baseball team used an eight-run third inning to build an 8-3 lead against Cherokee on Wednesday, but the Braves clawed their way back to squeak out a 10-9 victory. Caden Biede and Cael Myrtue both pitched for Ridge View. Tyhler Kolpin smacked two hits and drove in two RBIs, while scoring two runs himself. Tracin Price, Caden Biede, Gavin Vohs, and Blake Myrtue all collected hits for the Raptors.
Coach Eric Myrtue and the Ridge View baseball squad are excited to begin the 2022 season. Top returning starters for the Raptors are seniors Tyhler Kolpin and Cameron Spina, as well as juniors Cael Myrtue, Tracin Price, and Caden Biede.
“This is a solid core that we will have to lean on if we are going to be successful,” said Coach Myrtue. “Our top two hitters from last year are returning in Cael Myrtue and Tyhler Kolpin. Four of the five will contribute on the mound. All but Spina will see significant time on the bump.”
The Ridge View softball program will enter this season with very high expectations and a lot of excitement again this summer. This year’s Raptor squad returns 11 letter winners from last year’s squad who all saw a lot of playing time and gained a lot of experience throughout the season. Last year's squad finished 18-11 overall.
Axton Miller of OABCIG qualified for the class 2A state golf tournament after tying for third at the district meet in Shenandoah. Miller fired a 73 to lead OABCIG and advance to state. As a team, the Falcons shot a 332 to tie for fourth at the eight team meet. Other OABCIG scores were Kale Ladwig with an 84, Ben Hofmeister with an 85, Jackson Godbersen with a 90, Griffin Diersen with a 91, and Kane Ladwig with a 92. Western Christian and Boyden-Hull advanced to state with scores of 297 and 299. The 2A state tournament is May 23 and 24 at Cold Water Golf Links in Ames.
The OABCIG track and field squad sent three entries to the state track meet last week. All three participants performed well, with the boys 4x100 meter relay team of Gabe Winterrowd, Beau Niemann, Beckett DeJean, and Josh Peters coming in at tenth place with a time of 44.14 seconds. Joel Nakazawa took 15th place in the discus competition with a throw of 135 feet 3 inches. Abby Winterrowd captured 16th place in the 400 meter dash with a time of 1:02.60.
