Jeff Linder

Two late winning at-bats by Katie Pilcher lifted Cedar Rapids Xavier past Western Dubuque in a 4A top-10 softball showdown.

Prep softball notes: A squad full of second-, third and fourth-year varsity players, Washington is 20-4 and ranked No. 7 in Class 3A.

Area softball Super Ten and standings: Western Dubuque remains No. 1 in the area by a slim margin over Williamsburg and Benton Community.

With Class 3A top-ranked Williamsburg trailing early in the nightcap of Monday’s Wamac twinbill with Center Point-Urbana, Curtin pitched six innings of one-hit, shutout ball, and the Raiders went on to pick up the sweep, 3-0 and 10-3, at Jim Turner Field.

Catching up with six WNBA players with Iowa ties, through games played Thursday.

Iowa women’s basketball announced that Ava Jones will medically retire. She will remain on a scholarship that will no longer count toward the program’s maximum of 15.

Peyton 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.

Led by the Gookin sisters, Class 3A No. 4 Mount Vernon weathered some pregame distractions and swept Marion in a softball doubleheader.

New Iowa women’s basketball coach Jan Jensen sat for an hour-long one-on-one interview with The Gazette on Tuesday at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

Prep softball notes: Iowa City Liberty’s sweep of Dubuque Wahlert on Tuesday further tightens the anybody’s-race MVC Mississippi Division; all seven teams are within 1 1/2 games.

Area softball Super Ten and standings (June 5): Western Dubuque holds onto the top spot; the Bobcats are 8-0 in MVC play.

The Alburnett Pirates exude an aura. Call it a “their-year” vibe. The Class 2A third-ranked Pirates earned a Tri-Rivers Conference softball doubleheader sweep of Maquoketa Valley — 12-2 and 4-1 — Thursday at the Martin Sports Complex.

When Class 3A top-ranked Williamsburg lost its first game of Wednesday’s Wamac Conference doubleheader to 3A No. 5 Benton Community — its third consecutive setback after a 5-0 start — it was met more with shrugs than shudders.

Area softball Super Ten and standings (May 29): Western Dubuque climbs to the top spot; Cedar Rapids Kennedy and Cedar Rapids Jefferson make swift jumps.

For the majority of the state’s softball teams, enough of a sample size was created last week to make some observations. Here are five Gazette area teams that won Week 1.