Kennedy reaches a new plateau with state softball quarterfinal win

FORT DODGE — The Kennedy Cougars have reached a new level. A new frontier.

Welcome to the big stage. Big-girl softball.

Jenna Schwartzhoff ignited fourth-ranked Cedar Rapids Kennedy with a rare home run, and the Cougars held on to dethrone No. 5 Johnston, 7-4, in a Class 5A quarterfinal at the state tournament Tuesday afternoon at the Rogers Sports Complex.

'It's pretty surreal,' said first-year head coach Maddison LeClere. 'The girls were ready, the coaches were ready and we felt good about everything. We wanted to play somebody we hadn't seen yet.'

They played the defending champions, and they took them down. As a result, Kennedy (36-7) finds itself in a whole new position.

A new frontier.

The Cougars face No. 1 Waukee (39-3) in a semifinal at 11 a.m. Thursday. Yeah, that's big-girl softball.

Kennedy hadn't been at the state tournament since 1999. Hadn't won a game at the state tournament since 1982. Hadn't been in the winner's bracket ... ever.

'We saw that (Monday), and it lit a fire under us,' Schwartzhoff said. 'We were going to go out and get the job done.

'It's a new year, a new team.'

The Cougars did nothing against Johnston pitcher Emily Flint for the first three innings — nine up, nine down.

Ashley Hamilton led off the top of the fourth with a single, then Megan Weber walked with two outs.

That brought up Schwartzhoff, who blasted a homer — her first of the season, second of her career — to center field for a 3-0 lead.

'We had runners on base, and I wanted to get them in,' Schwartzhoff said. 'And when it went out, I was ecstatic. My face lit up.

'That fueled us.'

Kennedy got two more runs in the fifth. After the Dragons (36-6) committed a pair of errors, Ashley Winterowd and Kaylin Kinney made them pay with back-to-back RBIs that made it 5-0.

Abby Spore's bloop down the right-field line hit chalk for a two-run single that extended the margin to 7-0 in the sixth.

'I was watching it as I ran down the line, and I was telling it, 'Stay fair, stay fair,'' Spore said.

Johnston didn't lie down, though. The Dragons got three in the bottom of the sixth, and Emma Ford's RBI single in the seventh made it 7-4 and brought the tying run to the plate with one out.

Kinney (13-3) reared back and fanned Ally Schaer for the second out — 'The previous at bats, I wanted to spin the ball,' she said. 'This time I focused on velocity.'

Then she induced a popout from Hannah Espeland, and the Cougars could exhale and celebrate.

As Schwartzhoff said, it's a new year, a new team.

And a whole new level.

CEDAR RAPIDS KENNEDY 7, JOHNSTON 4

Class 5A State Quarterfinal, at Fort Dodge

C.R. Kennedy 000 322 0 — 7 8 2

Johnston 000 003 1 — 4 10 3

Kaylin Kinney and Megan Weber. Emily Flint and Ally Schaer. W — Kinney (13-3). L — Flint (23-4). HR — CRK: Jenna Schwartzhoff (1).

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