Central Lee girls roll Mepo to go 11-0 in SEISC

More relaxed

“I feel like we're more relaxed when we face teams so we’re not dwelling on things and getting anxious about this team’s record or that team's.””

Kenna Sandoval, Central Lee freshman

DONNELLSON – Several ladies from the Central Lee 1979 softball team had big smiles on their faces Friday night at the Lady Hawks' softball field.
The group was honored with the 2023 Central Lee Hawks as the last team and the most recent team to win a conference softball title.
The most recent being this year’s Lady Hawks that are a perfect 11-0 in SEI Superconference.
First year coach Jason Hawk said the difference in past years to this year is the work ethic he sees.
“They’ve been working hard. They’ll beat me here to the cage. They come when they don’t have to and they take a lot of pride in what they’re doing,” Hawk said.
“We all came on Saturday and spent four hours here. The whole team. Nobody missed. These girls are doing it as a team.”
The Hawks did it as a team again Friday night in an 11-0 win over Mediapolis that probably should have been over in the fourth inning, save for a double play to end the bottom of the inning.
With the bases loaded and Bailey Schwartz standing at third, Alix Congdon lifted a fly ball to short center where the Bulldogs' Anna Ford made the catch and fired home to catch a tagging Schwartz by about three feet.
Mediapolis tried to extend the game in the top of the fifth, getting two runners on, but Hawks’ starter Everlee Harvey got a ground out back to her to end the game.
Freshman Kenna Sandoval hit her second home run in the last two games with a 3-run blast to left center in the bottom of the first inning to get the Hawks going.
Sandoval said the team is playing well and not getting wrapped up in the past or the future.
“I feel like we're more relaxed when we face teams so we’re not dwelling on things and getting anxious about this team’s record or that team’s,” Sandoval said.
“We're just focusing more in the cages and on the field right now."
She said it was good to bring a conference championship back to the school.
“We’re finally conference champions.”
She would add a single and a double on the night, going 3-3 with three runs scored and 4 RBIs.
The Hawks would add four more runs in the second and three in the third. Mediapolis would get out of the inning unscathed in the fourth before Central Lee put the game away.
Schwartz went 2-2 and Simmons was 2-3 in the win. Schwartz and Shanna Buford both had two RBIs.
Buford's batting average is tops in Iowa in Class 3A at .593 and ninth in all classes. Sandoval is fifth in home runs in 3A with nine.
Harvey went all five innings, giving up just two hits while striking out six. She also had several put outs playing good defense at the mound, including one throw out from her knees at first.
Hawk said winning the conference was one of his expectations.
“Honestly yes, I told everybody that our goal was to win conference and go to state. We’ve met one of them,” he said.
“There’s a lot of expectations here and we’ve always been worried about West Burlington, but that’s one thing I’ve never done with these girls. It doesn’t matter who we play, we always go out and do what we do.
“Before any game, nobody’s looking forward to tomorrow. If we play the No. 1 team in the state, nobody’s thinking about that today, they’re doing what I ask them to do in that moment.”
The Hawks have won 9 of their last 10 with the only loss coming to Washington 14-4 Tuesday. Central Lee drew the Demons in the first round of Class 3A regional quarterfinals on July 6 to open post season play.
Hawk said he’ll be spending time with that stat sheet over the next 10 days.
“I take a lot of the blame in that loss. I had some people in the wrong spots in the field, but we keep a pretty good score sheet and I’ll be spending a lot of time with that over the next few days.”