Kennedy sweeps Prairie, moves to 17-1

CEDAR RAPIDS — Paige Timmerman wasn't part of the down years. Just the rebirth.

And Thursday night, she provided another chapter in Cedar Rapids Kennedy's softball transformation.

Timmerman laced an RBI double in the top of the ninth inning (her third of the night), and later scored on a wild pitch as Class 5A third-ranked Kennedy completed a Mississippi Valley Conference double-header sweep of No. 13 Cedar Rapids Prairie, 7-6, on Thursday at Prairie High School.

The Cougars (17-1 overall, 11-1 MVC) maintained a half-game lead on Iowa City West in the MVC Valley Division race. Timmerman's extra-inning heroics didn't appear necessary until Prairie (8-8, 6-5) erased a 5-2 deficit with three runs in the bottom of the seventh.

'We didn't let that get us down,' Timmerman said. 'We're a pretty confident team. I know (Prairie's) Natalie (Halvorson) is a good pitcher, and I had to get after it.'

A senior headed to Luther College, Timmerman transferred from Cedar Rapids Jefferson after her freshman year. That was about the same time that Dan Gratz took the coaching reins of what had been a losing program.

The Cougars quickly became good. Now, they're better than good.

'We had a vision, yeah, but it comes down to the girls,' Gratz said. 'It's pretty special what they're doing.'

Timmerman was 4-for-8 with those three doubles Thursday. She scored four times and drove in a pair of runs.

The Cougars were unfazed after the Hawks made their seventh-inning rally. Anne Cervany's RBI single got the Hawks even at 5-5.

'Mentally, we know we can do it,' Timmerman said. 'Our confidence is at a high level. We're hungry to win, and we're finding ways to get it done.'

Tianna Drahn opened the winning rally with an infield single, and stole second. Timmerman fouled off three two-strike pitches, then sent the next one to the fence in center field.

'She grooved one, and I sat on it,' she said.

Kennedy won the first game, 4-1. Peyton Baskerville's RBI single in the sixth broke a 1-1 tie.

CEDAR RAPIDS KENNEDY 4-7, CEDAR RAPIDS PRAIRIE 1-6 (2nd, 9)

At C.R. Prairie

Game 1

C.R. Kennedy 000 101 2 — 4 8 1

C.R. Prairie 010 000 0 — 1 5 1

Kaylin Kinney and Megan Weber. Natalie Halvorson and Lauren Kuch. W — Kinney (6-0). L — Halvorson (5-5).

Game 2

C.R. Kennedy 301 000 102 — 7 12 1

C.R. Prairie 100 010 301 — 6 12 1

Jenna Schwartzhoff, Kaylin Kinney (9) and Peyton Baskerville. Nicole Sullivan, Natalie Halvorson (8) and Lauren Kuch. W — Schwartzhoff (5-1). L — Halvorson (5-6). SV — Kinney.

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