Home at last, Xavier gets a split

CEDAR RAPIDS — Finally, the Xavier Saints found themselves on firm footing at home.

The infield at Bob Erusha Field held up Thursday night, allowing the Saints to play their first two true home games of the season. Class 4A 15th-ranked Xavier split with 5A No. 14 Dubuque Hempstead.

The Saints won the opener, 3-2, behind Cassie Himmelsbach's two home runs. Hempstead took the nightcap, 10-7.

'It's been frustrating, kind of heartbreaking,' Himmelsbach said of the Saints' facility. 'You're a senior, and you want to play on your home field.'

Xavier was hoping to make improvements to its field this spring. Instead of getting better, it got worse.

'A couple things we wanted to address were drainage down the third-base line and top dressing on the infield. The top dressing was put down, and it wouldn't drain,' Xavier principal Tom Keating said.

As a result, when players and coaches stepped on the field, even a couple days after a rain, they were up to their shins in muck.

The Saints have practiced at their home field only three times in the first four weeks since practice started. Their previous 'home' games had been at Cedar Rapids Jefferson and Solon.

Coe has been a practice site.

'The good news is that a lot of folks helped us a lot,' Keating said. 'People have been very accommodating. The silver lining is we found out how close the softball community is.'

Xavier officials are hopeful the most recent update will be a permanent fix.

'It's a waiting game now,' Coach Nikki Gahring said. 'We'll see what happens when we get an inch of rain.'

Himmelsbach hit a pair of solo shots — her first two of the season — in the opener, then Xavier (5-4 overall, 5-3 MVC) scored the go-ahead run when Charlotte Richards raced home on Kathryn Langholz's squeeze bunt in the bottom of the sixth.

Hempstead (7-2, 6-1) got a three-run homer from Alana Cooksley in the first inning of the nightcap. The Mustangs scored four runs in the fifth inning for some breathing room.

CEDAR RAPIDS XAVIER 3-7, DUBUQUE HEMPSTEAD 2-10

At Bob Erusha Field

Game 1

Dubuque Hempstead 001 010 0 — 2 3 2

C.R. Xavier 010 011 x — 3 4 3

Malarie Huseman and Kayla LaPage. Maria Steffen and Charli Patten. W — Steffen (4-1). L — Huseman (4-1). HR — CRX — Cassie Himmelsbach 2 (2).

Game 2

Dubuque Hempstead 302 041 0 — 10 12 1

C.R. Xavier 310 030 0 — 7 10 2

Julia Meehan, Malarie Huseman (5) and Kayla LaPage. Ellie Malecek, Maria Steffen (6) and Charli Patten. W — Meehan (3-1). L — Malacek (1-3). HR — DH: Alana Cooksley (4), Amber Cooksley (2).

l Comments: (319) 368-8857; jeff.linder@thegazette.com