North Mahaska baseball coach Kevin Kelderman and Sigourney’s Lee Crawford have met on the field many times over the past 19 years. The two “adversaries” have very competitive teams. North Mahaska holds a 12-10 edge in games according to Varsity Bound, the official stat site for Iowa high school sports. However, it was Sigourney who picked up the win Friday night 5-2.
Sigourney was able to receive a hit in timely situations and North Mahaska seemingly hit the ball right to a Savage. Sigourney scored two runs in the top of the first inning then added scores in the sixth and seventh after North Mahaska tied the game.
“This was just another one of those games Kevin and I have,” said Crawford. “Our defense played well, and we got good pitching from Cade and Clay did a good job closing. We got the hits when we needed them.”
North Mahaska was outhit in the game 10-5. The Warhawks yielded just one extra base, a double by Josh Mohr, who also hit a single. Cade Striegle hit a single with two RBIs and Bo Schmidt added a pair of singles to drive in two runs.
After North Mahaska tied the game in the bottom of the third inning, the Warhawks had another scoring opportunity stopped with runners at second and third.
“I thought about having Ty (Kelderman) bunt but wanted to give one swing to see what would happen,” said coach Kelderman. “That swing ended up a flyout. We just were not able to get the hit when we needed it, or we hit to somebody.”
Striegle picked up the win for Sigourney going 4 1/3 innings. He allowed two runs on five hits, three walks and struck out one. Morse worked the final 2 2/3 with three strikeouts.
Nash Smith and Dodge Duke combined to pitch for North Mahaska. They gave up 10 hits, four walks and a hit batsman. They recorded four strikeouts.
No other stats were available at press time Monday.
Sigourney improves to 8-1 overall and 6-0 in South Iowa Cedar League play. North Mahaska falls to 7-4 overall and 4-3 in league play.