Prairie sweeps Linn-Mar; Sommer injured

MARION - Cedar Rapids Prairie handed Linn-Mar a pair of softball whippings Thursday night at Oak Ridge Middle School. But that's only the start of the Lions' concerns right now.

All-state shortstop Katie Sommer was hit squarely in the forehead by a thrown ball late in the second game, triggering an early end to the night.

'It was just a fluke deal,” said Lions Coach John Begley. 'The umpires called a dead ball, the outfielder didn't know it was a dead ball and threw it in as if the ball was live.”

Sommer turned just as the ball was upon her. She went to the ground immediately behind and to the left of second base, and stayed there for about 10 minutes before a golf cart arrived to transport her off the field.

She was taken to the hospital for observation.

After a brief huddle by coaches and umpires, it was agreed to call the night short. Class 5A 10th-ranked Prairie swept the error-stricken Lions, 7-2 and 8-0.

'Our pitchers attacked the zone tonight,” Prairie Coach Joe Yegge said. 'Shelby (Frederick) threw an outstanding game. Natalie (Halvorson), too.”

Frederick didn't strike out a batter, but crafted a no-hitter through 5 2/3 innings before Cassie Waller broke it up with a double to the gap in right-centerfield.

Natalie Rumer hit a home run in the first game, a solo shot that got the Hawks (20-9 overall, 15-5 MVC) rolling.

Then, in the nightcap, Mallory Jones sliced a liner down the left-field line, and raced around the bases for a three-run inside-the-park homer, the first four-bagger of her career.

'I had two strikes, and I wanted to put the ball in play,” she said. 'I kept running ... all the way around.”

Jones collected five RBIs in the second contest.

Those were the highlights. The lowlights came defensively for Linn-Mar (18-11, 13-7), which committed seven errors in the first game, four more in the second.

The performance came on the heels of a brilliant night Tuesday at Cedar Rapids Washington.

'We came out flat,” Begley said. 'We weren't ready to play. We got a good whipping, that's all you can say.”

The Lions coughed up five errors in the fifth inning of the opener, leading to five unearned runs that made it 7-0.

C.R. PRAIRIE 7, LINN-MAR 2 (Game 1)

C.R. Prairie 010 150 0 - 7 9 2

Linn-Mar 000 002 0 - 2 5 7

Natalie Halvorson and Natalie Rumer. Maddy Ryan, Morgan Braughton (5) and Christina Lincoln, Kristie Sommer (7). W - Halvorson (10-5). L - Ryan (14-10). HR - CRP: Rumer (3).

C.R. PRAIRIE 8, LINN-MAR 0 (Game 2)

C.R. Prairie 014 003 - 8 8 0

Linn-Mar 000 000 - 0 1 4

Shelby Frederick and Natalie Rumer. Maddy Ryan and Christina Lincoln. W - Frederick (10-4). L - Ryan (14-11). HR - CRP: Mallory Jones (1).

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