Katie Pilcher matches school slugging record; sweep sends Xavier to 15-0

CEDAR RAPIDS — Hello there, Erin Drahozal. You’ve got company.

Katie Pilcher matched Drahozal’s 10-year-old school record for career home runs, and Class 4A top-ranked Cedar Rapids Xavier played complete softball in a Mississippi Valley Conference sweep of Cedar Rapids Jefferson, 7-0 and 8-0, Monday night at Bob Erusha Field.

“I’m thankful I can do this for this program,” said Pilcher, whose two home runs — one in each game — gave her 11 this season (in just 15 games) and 34 for her career.

“An opportunity to do this, especially at Xavier ... there have been so many great players here in the past.”

Pilcher’s home runs were the big news, but there were plenty of noteworthy sidebars as the Saints improved to 15-0 overall, 12-0 in the MVC.

* Start with the pitching. Western Kentucky recruit Braylen Conlon (9-0) struck out 11 in a three-hit opener, and Maddyn Gates (4-0) followed with a five-inning five-hit shutout in the nightcap, escaping bases-loaded situations twice.

* Then there’s the bottom of the order, which was whatever is opposite of bottom-of-the-barrel. Abby Driscoll and Callie Luerkens — the 8 and 9 batters — combined for five RBIs in Game 1; Alaina Gahring and Luerkens knocked in five more in Game 2.

“We’ve preached that a lot,” Xavier Coach Nikki Gahring said. “Eight and 9, that’s going to be a huge piece of our success.”

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Added Alaina Luerkens, who went 4 for 6 and scored four runs: “Our people at the end, they’ve turned the lineup over really well.”

And when that happens, opponents are forced to navigate a suffocating trio at the top in Conlon, Pilcher and Gates — all of whom are hitting in excess of .480.

Xavier has outscored its first 15 opponents by a margin of 140-20.

“I love how our team is never satisfied,” Pilcher said. “One through 9, we’re ready to get after it.”

Pilcher’s first home run Monday ignited a six-run rally in the third inning. Her second, as Xavier’s second batter of Game 2, got caught in the American flag down the left-field line.

And that got her even with Drahozal, who starred for the Saints from 2011 through 2015.

Jefferson is 7-7 overall, 5-5 in the MVC.

Cedar Rapids Xavier 7-8, Cedar Rapids Jefferson 0-0

At C.R. Xavier

GAME 1

C.R. Jefferson 000 000 0 — 0 3 1

C.R. Xavier 016 000 x — 7 11 0

Morgan Hewitt and Kayleigh Faulkner. Braylen Conlon and Katie Pilcher. W — Conlon (9-0). L — Hewitt (5-2). HR — CRX: Pilcher (10).

GAME 2

C.R. Jefferson 000 00 — 0 5 1

C.R. Xavier 210 23 — 8 12 0

Addison Grissom and Kayleigh Faulker. Maddyn Gates and Claire Walter. W — Gates (4-0). L — Grissom (2-3). HR — CRX: Katie Pilcher (11).

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com