The Falcons lost some talented seniors to graduation, but also returned some skilled players. Coach Tyler Johnson talked about the team’s outlook for this summer.
“We graduated a lot of baseball talent in Easton Harms, Zach Hemer, Max Webb, and Zach Thayer,” said Johnson. “But I have several top returning players coming back this year. Treyten Kolar will be our top returning hitter and pitcher. Other top returning players include Damon Dausel, Kelton Ladwig, and Brysen Kolar.”
Johnson has some young players he expects to play bigger roles this season.
The 2023 OABCIG softball squad is ready to step up a notch this season, with everyone but one senior back to play ball. Returning letterwinners include Kenai Nielsen, Jocelynn Maier, Anna Hofffman, Karter Hemer, Kylie West, Kylie Schluter, Halle Montgomery, Stella Remer, Abby Winterrowd, Justice DesChamps and Haley Harms. Falcon coach Summit Nielsen talked about the outlook for the upcoming season.
Ridge View baseball coach Eric Myrtue is counting on his returning starters to propel the Raptors to a successful season. Myrtue talked about who he lost to graduation, as well as who he has coming back.
“We lost a couple of top notch guys in Cameron Spina and Tyhler Kolpin,” he said. “We have big shoes to fill losing them. Cael Myrtue, Tracin Price, Blake Myrtue, Caden Biede, Kinnick Jensen, and Gavin Vohs are our returning guys.”
Myrtue mentioned some younger team members he expects to play a bigger role this year.
The Falcon baseball team got off to a slow start against East Sac in their home opener, but quickly took control of their contest with the Raiders. East Sac got on the board first with a run in the second inning. OABCIG answered with three runs of their own in the third inning to take a 3-1 lead. The Falcons continued to build the margin after that, scoring two runs in the fourth inning, one run in the fifth, and four more in the sixth inning to take a 10-1 lead.
The Ridge View softball team pulled away from Kingsley-Pierson in their season opener at Galva last week, dispatching the Panthers 16-6 in five innings. K-P got on the scoreboard early, taking a 3-0 lead in the first inning. The Raptors responded with four runs of their own to retake the lead at 4-3 after one. Ridge View steadily pulled away from there, scoring two runs in the second inning, plating four runs in both the third and fourth inning, and tacking on two more runs in the fifth inning to ten-run rule the Panthers at 16-6 after five.
The OABCIG softball team traveled to Moville last week to take on Woodbury Central. The Wildcats jumped out to an 8-0 lead after two innings. The Falcons scored a pair of runs in the third inning, but WC answered with two of their own, and one more in the fifth inning to build the margin to 11-2 after five. OABCIG kept battling, scoring two runs in the sixth inning and another in the seventh to pull within 11-5, but the 8-0 hole was simply too big to dig their way out of as they dropped a six-run decision.
The Ridge View baseball team found itself in quite a battle on Thursday night in Cherokee. The host Braves jumped out to a 2-0 lead after one inning. Both teams plated one run in the second inning and again in the third, as Cherokee led 4-2 going into the fifth inning. The Raptors scored once in the fifth to trim the margin to 4-3. In a wild sixth inning, Ridge View scored five runs to take an 8-4 lead, while the Braves plated two of their own to cut the margin to 8-6. Cherokee then scored twice in the seventh to tie the game at 8-8 and send the contest into extra innings.
The OABCIG track and field squad put up some impressive numbers at the State Track Championships in Des Moines. OABCIG’s 4x200 team of Gabe Winterrowd, Josh Peters, Ethan Behrendsen, and Beckett DeJean captured first place in a time of 1:29.27. Gabe Winterrowd won third place in the long jump with a leap of 22 feet, 4 inches. Winterrowd also won fourth place in the 100-meter dash with a time of 11.01 seconds. Abby Winterrowd placed 17th in the 400-meter dash with a time of 1:02.57.
The Ridge View track and field squad qualified for the Iowa state track meet in numerous entries. The Raptors did well in Des Moines, placing highly in many of those events. Kolton Luscome won 10th place in the shot put with a throw of 49 feet. Luscombe also captured fourth place in the discus throw with a hurl of 166 feet, 3 inches. Shae Dutler took 14th place in the long jump with a leap of 16 feet, 2 inches. Dutler also placed 24th in the 100-meter dash, clocking in at 13.38 seconds. Jaycie Vohs placed 21st in the 3,000 meter run with a time of 11:43.02.
