BASEBALL
Audubon: Audubon was the victim of 4-2/3 innings of no-hit ball from AHSTW ace Nick Denning, and the Wheelers never recovered in a 5-0 shutout loss Tuesday night in Avoca.
The Wheelers got six walks but off relief pitchers, but struck out 11 times when Denning was on the mound. Starter Carson Meaike gave up four hits and three earned runs, all in the sixth inning.
Audubon is now 2-2 on the year, as they were also shut out in a 10-0 loss to Earlham Monday night on the road.
The bats were quiet in that game as well, as Evan Alt and Jay Remsburg got the lone hits, and just five other Wheelers reached base, four of them on walks.
Exira-EHK: The Spartans picked up their first win of the season as ace pitcher Trey Petersen fired a no-hitter in a 15-0 win Wednesday night over Ar-We-Va.
The fifth and sixth innings were the big ones as coach Randy Kelly picked up his first coaching win, as the Spartans blew out from a 1-0 lead to score seven times in each frame to turn the game into a rout.
The season opener a night earlier against Coon Rapids-Bayard didn’t go as well, as the Spartans fell 12-1 to the Crusaders. Petersen and Jameson Kilworth had the lone hits for the Spartans, with the team’s lone run scored in the bottom of the fourth inning.
SOFTBALL
Audubon: Jordan Porsch had three hits and Kali Irlmeier had two RBIs as Audubon rallied in the top of the seventh inning with four runs to pull out the Western Iowa Conference win Tuesday night in Avoca.
The win over the Lady Vikes was the Wheelers’ first of the year, following a 6-3 loss to Earlham on Monday. The Wheelers got six hits, including a two-RBI triple from Mattie Nielsen. Alexis Obermeier combined with Irlmeier to strike out nine and give up seven hits.
The Wheelers will be leaning on the leadership of seniors Irlmeier and Kylee Hartl, but also have plenty of juniors back from last year’s team in Nielsen, Obermeier and Porsch, plus Michelle Brooks, Karli Hartl and Addie Hocker.
Exira-EHK: The graduation of Macy Emgarten may have brought some questions to who’d take over and carry on Exira-EHK’s recent softball success. But if early performances by eighth-grader Riley Miller are any indication, the program is in good hands.
Miller won her varsity debut in the Spartans’ season opener Monday night, striking out six and giving up just two walks and six hits in the 11-5 win over Coon Rapids-Bayard.
She got offensive support from senior Shay Burmeister’s two run-double in the fourth inning and the team drawing 15 walks from some shaky Crusader pitching. The defense shook off some early struggles and an early 2-0 deficit before the offense posted four runs in the second and were never really in trouble again.
Burmeister, one of three seniors on this year’s roster along with Quinn Grubbs and Jaici Carlisle, had four hits and five RBIs in a 15-0 rout of Ar-We-Va on Wednesday. Miller threw the complete game shutout, getting eight strikeouts in the victory.