With a hand from its neighbors, Valley Community is on a tear

Two schools. One team.

One surging team.

Upper Iowa Conference neighbors Valley Community and Postville have joined forces in softball. And together, they have hit a groove.

"We keep talking about one team. One team," Valley Coach Jessica Dean said.

After a 1-9 start, Valley has won 16 of its last 18 games and stands 17-11 overall, 9-4 in the UIC.

The softball merger was put in place in late April.

"Postville knew that its numbers would be down. They thought they would have 10, 11, 12 kids and that most of them would be eighth-graders," said Dean, a former player at Elkader Central and Mount Mercy who is in her third year at Valley.

Postville put feelers out with neighboring schools. MFL MarMac was an option, but that merger would have put the Bulldogs in Class 3A.

"Logistics-wise, this made sense," Dean said.

Still, there were issues to address.

"A lot of questions needed to be answered," Dean said. "Kids that were already on the bubble, they might not be starting on the varsity.

"But the kids have been great about it," Dean said.

And the parents?

"They've been ... good about it."

The slow start wasn't due to any chemistry issues. The players just weren't around.

Six players were gearing for state track. Five others competed at state golf.

With the merger, there are 34 players in the Valley program. But there is plenty of playing time for all. The varsity is playing 39 games, the JV has a 30-game schedule, and the program now has a freshman team comprised predominantly of eighth-graders.

Valley was 19-11 last year; Postville was 3-24. But contributions for the combo have come from both schools.

Kim Kleve is the batting leader (.449, 28 RBIs), and has posted a 13-4 pitching mark. Jodi Schott (.348, 22 runs) is a returning all-state outfielder. They are returning Tigers.

Seniors Morgan Deering, Whitney Deering and DayLee Mostaert head the Postville contingent.

The majority of the games are played at Clermont, with a few in Postville.

Dean called the agreement a year-to-year pact.

"It will be re-evaluated after the season. We'll see what everybody thinks," she said.

All hail the queen

Jadyn Spencer's chase is over.

The slugger from Waterloo West rewrote the state career home run record Tuesday, when she hit a pair in the Wahawks' sweep of Linn-Mar.

"It means a lot," she told The Waterloo Courier. "When I started back in the eighth grade I never thought this would be possible. There was no way back then that I thought this was possible.

"There is a sense of relief. It was definitely something weighing on me, and I'm glad it's over."

A University of Alabama signee, Spencer hit six homers as an eighth-grader, eight as a freshman, seven as a sophomore, 16 as a junior and 14 so far this season.

It's not as if she gets a lot to hit. Spencer also leads the state in walks, with 33. She is batting .607 with an on-base percentage of .753 and a slugging percentage of 1.464.

As a pitcher, she is 13-6 with 209 strikeouts and 15 walks in 124 1/3 innings.