Kennedy, West battle to top-5 stalemate

CEDAR RAPIDS — Megan Weber's latest home run was a heroic one.

Weber lined a two-run shot off the scoreboard in the bottom of the sixth inning, allowing Class 5A third-ranked Cedar Rapids Kennedy to salvage a Mississippi Valley Conference softball split, 2-1, Tuesday night at Kennedy High School.

Iowa City West, rated No. 5, held on for a 6-5 win in the opener, and the MVC Valley Division race remains a virtual stalemate at the top.

'Megan kind of rescues us,' Kennedy Coach Dan Gratz said. 'She's a great hitter.'

A junior, Weber hit her seventh long ball of the season. It was a laser. And it was dramatic.

'I was looking for something up (in the strike zone),' she said. 'It looked pretty flat coming in. It felt good to hit it.'

The split kept the Cougars (13-1 overall, 9-1 MVC) a half-game in front of the Women of Troy (10-3, 8-1) in the Valley Division.

'It wasn't the outcome we were hoping for,' West's Adara Opiola said. 'But stuff like that happens, and we have to roll with it.'

Opiola bats third in the West order, and the top three (Taleah Smith, Brylee Klosterman and Opiola) combined to reach base 17 times in 22 plate appearances Tuesday.

All three of them scored (two of them on Opiola's single) in the top of the sixth inning of Game 1 as West extended a one-run lead to 6-2. Kennedy got within 6-5 on Kaylin Kinney's two-run home run, then Weber singled to bring the winning run to the plate.

But right fielder Skyler Ryan gloved Peyton Baskerville's liner down the right-field line to preserve the win.

Smith singled to lead off the second game, and eventually scored on an error to put the Women of Troy in front, 1-0, and it remained that way until the sixth.

Kinney walked on four pitches, then Weber drilled Abby Henderson's 3-1 offering. Kinney (5-0), an eighth-grader, retired the Women of Troy in order in the seventh.

'We'd have loved to have won the both, but I'm proud of what we did tonight,' West Coach Justin Lutjen said.

Gratz said, 'We played well enough to win them both. So did they.'

IOWA CITY WEST 6-1, CEDAR RAPIDS KENNEDY 5-2

At C.R. Kennedy

Game 1

Iowa City West 011 103 0 — 6 8 3

C.R. Kennedy 000 200 3 — 5 7 3

Jessie Harder and Taylor Libby. Jenna Schwartzhoff and Peyton Baskerville. W — Harder (5-1). L — Schwartzhoff (4-1). HR — CRK: Kaylin Kinney (3).

Game 2

Iowa City West 100 000 0 — 1 5 0

C.R. Kennedy 000 002 x — 2 6 1

Abby Henderson and Taylor Libby. Kaylin Kinney and Megan Weber. W — Kinney (5-0). L — Henderson (3-1). HR — CRK: Weber (7).

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