Alburnett with the big Tri-Rivers softball sweep over North Linn

TROY MILLS — Alburnett softball coach Brenden Drahn really has no chance at home.

Drahn already had two young daughters with his wife Loxley. They’d be Embrie (the oldest at about 5 years old) and Monroe, who’s slightly younger.

Then little Baylor came onto the scene a week ago Friday. Add two dogs to the Drahn family mix, and, of course, they’re both female.

That’d be Girls 6, Boys 1.

“I told him he could get a male turtle,” Loxley Drahn said with a smile.

By the way, Brenden Drahn witnessed the birth of Baylor last Friday morning, stayed in the hospital with his wife and newest child for awhile, and then was booted out. Loxley felt her husband needed to be where he is most of the summer, on the softball diamond.

So he took off for a couple of Friday afternoon/evening games against Anamosa a week ago and then went right back to the hospital to be with his wife and newest child.

“I told him this was the third one. He should just go to his games,” Loxley Drahn said Thursday night after the entire young family was together to witness Alburnett sweep North Linn in a key Tri-Rivers Conference double-header: 10-2 and 8-7.

“Had a baby Friday morning, had a game against Anamosa on Friday night,” Brenden Drahn said. “I told my wife I could be there with them. She was like ‘There’s nurses here in the nursery.’ Her grandma came over, so I told her I’d go to the games, and I’d be right back.”

Alburnett went into this doubleheader ranked No. 4 in Class 2A, North Linn was sixth in 1A. This is the first Pirates sweep of their Linn County rival since 2014 and it put a pretty good stranglehold on the Tri-Rivers Conference West Division championship.

North Linn, last year’s 1A state champion, had won 13 of the previous 14 games between the schools.

“Through the years of being at Alburnett, sometimes you go into these games, and it’s all North Linn,” Drahn said. “You’re trying to get that team off your back, and sometimes you wonder how they’re going to come in. But we’ve really been pushing our goals this year and what we want to do and wanting to win the conference.

“We’ve really kind of been holding the girls accountable to that. Having six seniors, seven seniors, they’re always holding each other accountable because they know this is their last go around. When we get straying from what we do, we just kind of say ‘Hey, back to our goals. We’ve got to get focused back up. We need to make sure we’re doing what we need to do to help us get our chances.’”

Alburnett (20-3) got a two-out, two-run single in the first inning off the bat of designated player Avery Houts for an early Game 1 lead. Savannah Caves added a big two-out, two-run home run in the fourth to help put away the opener for the Pirates.

Then there was Caves’ homer in Game 2. With North Linn (15-8) nursing a 4-3 lead in the top of the fifth inning, the diminutive senior catcher unloaded on a pitch from NL pitcher Kylie Munson with the bases loaded for a grand slam that put Alburnett on top for good, 7-4.

The ball cleared the fence in left-center field by a good 30 feet, but don’t ask Caves exactly how far it went.

“I have no idea,” she said. “I didn’t watch it, I just went running. I have no idea where it landed, didn’t see it. It felt good coming off the bat. But I never tell myself it’s going over the fence because I’ll jinx myself.”

Caves is a five-year player at Alburnett who is headed to play softball at Kirkwood Comminity College. She has a batting average nearing .500, seven home runs and 47 RBIs, which is more than she had last season.

“Coming in as seniors, our team wanted it,” Caves said. “I think all of us really wanted it tonight. Just held each other accountable.”

“When Savannah gets her hands extended on the ball, she showed her power tonight,” Drahn said. “That first-game home run she hit kind of squeaked out of here, she kind of got jammed on it, but she was still able to get it out.

“With our top two hitters, their job is to get on base, steal some bases, getting into scoring position. Savannah knows what to do from there. She showed that tonight.”

North Linn did make things very interesting in the bottom of the seventh. Skylar Benesh added to her school-record career home-run total with a solo shot to begin things.

Lily Rehberg, who’s actually a home-school student from Rowley playing softball at NL, drove two runs in with a two-run double to the fence in center. But with the tying run in scoring position, Alburnett southpaw pitcher Katelynn Bowler got North Linn’s Harley Henderson to pop to first to end it.

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