Casey Day, Prairie fend off Kennedy in substate opener

CEDAR RAPIDS - Entering the first round of Class 4A substate play Friday, Cedar Rapids Prairie Coach Todd Rima knew it wasn't going to be easy.

The fifth-ranked Hawks were tasked with Cedar Rapids Kennedy, a conference foe who they've battled with all season.

When the teams were tied 3-3 after two innings of play, Rima wasn't any less anxious.

Yet the Hawks stayed on pace. Prairie picked up three more runs, while shutting the Cougars out to win 6-3 at home and advance to the semifinal game.

'I think that was a great win,” Rima said. 'I loved how our guys responded when we got behind. I thought, for a first-round game, that's exactly the test that you want, and our guys were able to survive it.”

The game started out fast, as Kennedy's Matthew Best hit an inside-the-park home run in the first inning. It seemed that Kennedy (15-22-1) had the hot hand, but the Hawks (27-12) responded in the bottom of the inning, picking up a run of their own on an RBI single from Harrison Cook.

Both teams picked up a pair of runs in the second inning, too, keeping the game tied and both teams on edge.

'I was really nervous, because I had never played in a game with this type of atmosphere,” Prairie pitcher Casey Day said. 'Coming into it, it was kind of stressful. That leadoff home run, was crazy. It was stressful early.”

Yet after those first two innings, Rima saw a change in his team, and in his pitcher. They had calmed down.

'I thought Casey settled in, kept them off balance a little bit, and then our defense made some very good plays behind him,” Rima said. 'Casey has been outstanding for us all year, and that's what he was all night.”

Prairie held the Cougars scoreless from that point on, and picked up a pair of runs in the fourth inning and one in the sixth to seal the three-run win.

Prairie advances to the semifinals and will host Ottumwa on Monday. The winner will face top-seeded Southeast Polk in the substate final Wednesday. Ater the win against Kennedy, Day said he really likes where the Hawks are sitting.

'We feel really good,” Day said. 'We're really confident. We feel like we're really starting to hit our stride as a team. We have a lot of pitching depth, a lot of hitting, and we just feel like we're in a really good spot right now.”

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