Kennedy, Linn-Mar battle to a draw

MARION - A coach ejected. A 2-hour-plus opener, in regulation, even. A lightning-shortened nightcap.

Just another wild, wacky night of Metro softball. And in the end, a split.

Sydney Kinney's three-run triple punctuated a five-run outburst in the top of the sixth inning as Class 5A ninth-ranked Cedar Rapids Kennedy claimed the first game of Monday's Mississippi Valley Conference double-header, 9-7, at Oak Ridge Middle School.

Linn-Mar grabbed the nightcap, 4-0, scoring four runs in the bottom of the fifth, before lightning was sighted and the teams were sent home.

It's extremely possible - probable, perhaps - that these teams will meet again July 14 in a rubber match - a 5A regional final.

'We hope to get to that point, and if we do, it will be a good game,” said Kennedy's Paige Timmerman, who reached base five times Monday, scoring three runs in the opener.

The Cougars (19-9 overall, 12-6 MVC) prevailed in a back-and-forth opener without Coach Dan Gratz, who was ejected in the fifth inning.

Gratz was allowed to return and coach Game 2, but will miss Tuesday's twinbill at Waterloo East per Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union bylaws.

Kennedy also was minus outfielder Tianna Drahn, the state's leading base-stealer (with 42), who was at a club volleyball tournament.

'We overcame it,” Timmerman said. 'We emphasize having fun and playing the game we know.”

Kennedy didn't have a hit through the first three innings, then managed 11 in the last four. The big one was Kinney's, which extended the margin to 9-5. Linn-Mar (18-13, 12-6) got within 9-7 in the seventh and had the tying run on base before the rally ended - 2 hours, 7 minutes before the game's first pitch.

Morgan Braughton scattered four hits in the nightcap, and got a lot of help from catcher Christina Lincoln, who picked off one baserunner at first base and threw out a pair of would-be base-stealers at second.

'I thought (Braughton) threw great,” said Linn-Mar Coach John Begley. 'We pitched well against Fort Dodge (in a close loss Saturday), and she pitched really well tonight.”

Linn-Mar broke a scoreless draw in the fifth on Ellie Schuemann's two-run single, then added tallies when Lincoln was hit by a full-count pitch and on Madison Rentschler's groundout.

It was 4-0 in the bottom of the fifth, and since the visiting team had batted five times, the game was official.

CEDAR RAPIDS KENNEDY 9-0, LINN-MAR 7-4 (2nd,5)

At Oak Ridge Middle School

Game 1

C.R. Kennedy 000 135 0 - 9 11 1

Linn-Mar 001 040 2 - 7 9 3

Andrea McEachran and Megan Weber. Maddy Ryan and Christina Lincoln. W - McEachran (7-2). L - Ryan (13-9).

Game 2

C.R. Kennedy 000 00 - 0 4 0

Linn-Mar 000 04 - 4 6 2

Ashley Winterowd and Peyton Baskerville. Morgan Braughton and Christina Lincoln. W - Braughton (5-4). L - Winterowd (2-2).

l Comments: (319) 368-8857; jeff.linder@thegazette.com