Big bats power AGWSR in state semis

FORT DODGE- Bookended by home runs from Makenna Kuper and Rachel Sicard, the AGWSR softball team captured a marathon 12-5 victory over Akron-Westfield here Wednesday during Class 1A semi-final action at the Iowa Girls’ High School Athletic Union state tournament.

The Cougars led from the get-go as lead-off batter Kuper opened the contest smacking a 2-2 pitch over the right-centerfield fence. It was the start of a big day offensively for the standout freshman.

Sicard then secured the win, crushing a three-run home run to deep leftfield to cap a five-run seventh and building a commanding cushion.

The four-baggers give AGWSR 23 on the season with a team-leading 10 for Kuper while Sicard has seven.

AGWSR, the 1A field’s third-seed and second-seeded Akron-Westfield played an offensive-minded game in what is usually low-scoring pitching battles at the state show. The game that went 2-hours and 19-minutes, and featured a combined 17 runs, 19 base hits and another 19 runners left on base.

The game was 1-0 through four frames when the bats heated up as the Cougars went four runs in the fifth, two in the six and five in the seventh. The Westerners tallied three in the sixth to pull within 7-4 along with one run each in the fifth and seventh.

For the full story see Friday's edition of the paper.