Softball notes: Freshman Kaylece Morgan sets Linn-Mar home run record

It took a break for Kaylece Morgan to step into the starting lineup.

Once there, she hasn’t stepped out. Hitting bombs will keep you there.

“If you can hit the ball, you’re going to be in the lineup,” Linn-Mar softball coach Lindsey Murray said.

A freshman, Morgan wasn’t in the lineup for the first week or two. Then, opportunity knocked.

“We had a girl who was gone for a day, so Kaylece stepped in, and she hit a home run,” Murray said. "The next day, I thought, OK, I’ll put her at (designated player), and she hit another. The next day, she hit two more.”

On and on, it has gone. And now, Morgan is the Lions’ single-season home run record holder, with 12.

Jaye Hutcheson held the old record of 10, set in 2007. Morgan surpassed her June 23.

“A lot of it has to do with my hitting coach,” Morgan said. “He helped me get my swing down and helped me make better contact.”

At 5-foot-6 and 130 pounds, Morgan doesn’t have the look of a slugger.

“I don’t have really big arms, but I have pretty strong legs, and that’s where I get my power,” she said.

“She’s small, but mighty,” Murray said.

Morgan is the everyday shortstop now, allowing junior Caelynn Obleton to return to her natural position of third base.

Linn-Mar (21-7, 16-6 Mississippi Valley Conference) has won 11 straight games. The Lions’ doubleheader Tuesday at Cedar Rapids Prairie was postponed until Friday. They’ll host Cedar Rapids Kennedy on Wednesday.

Morgan is hitting .465 with 35 RBIs.

Alburnett snaps North Linn’s streak

A three-run rally in the bottom of the seventh inning pushed Class 2A ninth-ranked Alburnett past No. 1 North Linn, 4-3, in the first game of a Tri-Rivers Conference doubleheader Monday.

It marked the end of North Linn’s 81-game conference winning streak. The Lynx’s previous loss in league play had come, ironically, against Alburnett on June 26, 2017.

North Linn (33-5, 21-1 Tri-Rivers) won the nightcap, 13-2. If the teams both win their first two 2A regional games, they will meet for a state-tournament berth July 12.

Alburnett (23-10, 17-5) was 7-12 last season.

A bright spot for South Tama

South Tama is mired at the bottom of the Wamac Conference, but senior Ashlynn Ellenbecker “continues to smile and give effort every single day,” according to Coach Chelsea Ahrens.

And she continues to hit.

Ellenbecker slugged four home runs and drove in 10 runs in Monday’s doubleheader at home against Vinton-Shellsburg. The Vikettes won both games, 20-8 and 15-7.

She was 6-for-7 with three two-run homers and a three-run shot.

Ellenbecker is third in the state in home runs, with 15. The Trojans are 4-31 overall, 0-24 in the Wamac.

"Her contagious attitude is never give up and keep grinding,“ Ahrens said.

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com