Late Kennedy rally allows the Cougars to split a softball twinbill with Jefferson

CEDAR RAPIDS — Peyton Stineman cleared her mind, then cleared the fence.

Stineman’s seventh-inning home run extended the second game of Thursday’s softball doubleheader at Niemeyer Field, then Class 5A eighth-ranked Cedar Rapids Kennedy won it in the eighth, 8-6.

That forged a split between the Cougars and Cedar Rapids Jefferson. The host J-Hawks won the first game (the one that counted in Mississippi Valley Conference standings), 10-5.

“We got the one we were really going after,” Jefferson Coach Mike Kuba said after the J-Hawks moved to 8-7 overall, 6-3 in league play. “We stressed the importance of that first one.

“The second one was a good high school softball game. They were able to answer. It got to be a bit of a hit-fest.”

The teams combined for 51 hits in the twinbill, 31 in the second game. Kennedy (8-4, 5-3) had the big blows after falling behind 6-2.

None were bigger than Stineman’s leadoff home run in the top of the seventh to tie the game.

“Before that at-bat, I cleared my head,” the freshman said. “I was going to hit the ball, no matter what.

“I didn’t know if it was out, or if it was fair, or if it hit the fence.”

It was fair, and it was gone.

Stineman followed with the go-ahead RBI in the eighth, on a bloop single to shallow center field.

“We have a mental-strength coach at Kennedy. I closed my eyes and took some deep breaths,” she said.

The J-Hawks appeared poised for a sweep after a five-run, five-hit second inning put them in front, 6-2.

Kennedy’s Emerson Blocker hit a two-run homer in the third to start the chipping-away process. Ella Brown doubled home Blocker in the fifth to make it 6-5.

Brown picked up the win in relief, blanking the J-Hawks in the final six innings.

In Game 1, Jefferson tallied five times in the second inning, with Sophia Kevitt’s three-run double the key blow. Mackenzie McWhorter ripped a two-run homer — the first round-tripper of her career — in the third, and Morgan Hewitt drove in two runs in the fourth.

Thursday was a Strike Out Cancer night at Jefferson, with a pregame memorial moment for Kuba’s sister, Lisa Canney-Willett, who died May 17 due to pancreatic cancer.

Cedar Rapids Jefferson 10-6, Cedar Rapids Kennedy 5-8 (2nd, 8)

At C.R. Jefferson

Game 1

C.R. Kennedy 003 011 0 — 5 11 3

C.R. Jefferson 052 210 x — 10 9 1

Lily Knutson, Peyton Stineman (3) and Dylan Amling. Olivia Young and Mackenzie McWhorter. W — Young (3-4). L — Knutson (5-3). HR — CRK: Knutson (4), CRJ: McWhorter (1).

Game 2

C.R. Kennedy 112 010 12 — 8 17 1

C.R. Jefferson 150 000 00 — 6 14 0

Ella Brown and Liliana Hansen. Morgan Hewitt and Mackenzie McWhorter. W — Brown (1-0) L — Hewitt (4-3). HR — CRK: Emerson Blocker (1), Peyton Stineman (3).

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com