ELK HORN -- Monday’s Exira-Elk Horn-Kimballton baseball game vs. Adair-Casey was suspended by rain at the halfway mark with the Spartans leading 5-1 after three and a half innings. The game will be resumed at Adair-Casey as part of a doubleheader on June 30.

 COUNCIL BLUFFS -- The Harlan Community baseball team held off a seventh-inning rally by St. Albert Monday night to beat the Falcons 4-2 in Hawkeye Ten Conference action. Cyclone senior Brett Croghan (3-1) took a shutout to the seventh inning and pitched a complete game for the win, allowing six hits and two earned runs, walking none, hitting one batter and striking out seven to outduel Brandon Williams.

 COUNCIL BLUFFS -- Harlan Community stranded the tying run at third base in the top of the seventh inning Monday night, falling to St. Albert 4-3 in Hawkeye Ten softball action. The Cyclones fell behind 4-1 after two innings and never fully recovered, managing just four hits off Saintes pitcher Bailey Clark.

 HARLAN -- During the past few years or so, it really didn’t matter which direction or how hard the wind was blowing at Jim Goeser Field.

 HARLAN -- The first 12 games of the season have certainly been a “Jekyll and Hyde” roller coaster ride for the Harlan Community softball team, perhaps summed up best by Thursday’s doubleheader split with Clarinda. After easily defeating the Cardinals in three innings, 12-0, in game one, HCHS took an early 6-2 lead in the night cap but struggled the rest of the way in a frustrating 15-14 eight-inning loss. The Cyclones, who have basically alte

 EARLHAM -- Junior Alex Amaral pitched a three-hit gem on the mound and got plenty of run support Friday night as the Exira-Elk Horn-Kimballton baseball team improved to 5-1 overall with a 9-1 non-conference win at Earlham. Amaral (3-0) allowed one run in seven innings, walked none and racked up 12 strikeouts, putting his season earned run average at 0.88.

 AVOCA -- Jared Johnson pitched a complete game two-hitter and the IKM-Manning baseball team rallied for three runs in the final two innings Friday night to post a 5-3 road win over AHSTW. The Wolves capped a 2-2 week on the diamond and improved their record to 5-5 overall and 5-3 in the Western Iowa Conference.

 AVOCA -- IKM-Manning sophomore Peyton Gross and AHSTW junior Haley Constable both pitched a three-hitter Friday night, but it was Gross and the Wolves who came out on top, 3-1, in Western Iowa Conference softball action. IKM-M, which blew out the Lady Vikes 11-0 in both teams’ league opener May 24, faced a much tougher challenge this time around but got the job done as Gross took a shutout into the seventh and finished with 10 strikeouts and

 HARLAN -- Harlan Community 2016 graduate Jordyn Moser signed a letter of intent earlier this spring to join the women’s basketball program at Morningside College in Sioux City. Moser will be joining one of the top NAIA Division II programs in the nation as the Mustang women have made 14 straight national tournament appearances and recorded 13 consecutive 20-win seasons under Sale, whose 15-year record at Morningside stands at 420-107 (.797).

 HARLAN -- Head coach Brooke Schaben didn’t even hesitate when asked if the Harlan Community softball team had just played its best game of the season. “Easily ... by far,” Schaben said after the up-and-down Cyclones handled unbeaten and 15th-rated (3-A) Atlantic, 8-2, at H.

 HARLAN -- Through the first two weeks of the baseball season, Harlan Community trailed exactly one time - by one run, for one half-inning - in rolling to a 6-0 start. So after losing to Lewis Central Monday night and trailing Atlantic 7-4 in the sixth inning on Tuesday, it was finally time to see how the Cyclones responded to a little adversity in the potential threat of two straight defeats. The resolve was everything that HCHS head coach St

 ELK HORN -- Senior Brady Hansen pitched a three-hit shutout with four walks and 13 strikeouts Wednesday night and also drove in two runs, leading the Exira-Elk Horn-Kimballton baseball team to a 5-0 home win over West Harrison. The victory improved the Spartans to 4-1 in the Rolling Valley Conference (and overall) going into Friday’s non-conference game at Earlham. They will return to conference play Monday night, hosting Adair-Casey.

 HARLAN -- Lewis Central pounded out 19 hits and drew nine walks at H. Jack Field Monday night, using a seven-run fourth inning and a six-run seventh to rout the Harlan Community softball team, 18-6. The Titans, ranked 15th in Class 4-A, improved to 13-1 overall and a perfect 7-0 in the Hawkeye Ten Conference.

 LOGAN -- The IKM-Manning baseball team improved to 4-4 overall on Tuesday night with an 11-5 win at Logan-Magnolia. A six-run top of the third keyed the victory for the Wolves, who totaled 13 hits and walked seven times.

 HARLAN -- It might not happen again this season - a team holding the high-scoring Harlan Community Cyclones to zero extra-base hits, walks or stolen bases in a game - but it was an effective formula for Lewis Central pitcher Caleb Shudak Monday night. Shudak overcame a shaky start and a rocky fifth inning with some help from catcher Joel Thompson as the Titans handed HCHS its first loss of the season, 6-4, at Jim Goeser Field. The second-rank