Baseball & Softball Weekly Recap

Ravens Split With Indians and Arrows
June 5, 2026
Article Credit: Zach Ulin/KCII
The Hillcrest Academy Raven baseball and softball teams took one of two road conference contests at Wapello. Raven baseball rode a strong
outing from senior Lincoln Miller on the mound to a 2-0 victory. Miller sat down 14 Indians on strikes, giving up just one hit in his complete game win, with five walks. Hillcrest got their offense on a pair of hits from Calvin Meller, one each from Rowan Miller, Lincoln Miller, Rylan Good, Kellen Meller and Kale Bailey. Rowan Miller and Becket Miiller had an RBI each and Good and Bailey scored a run apiece. Wapello’s one hit was a Wyatt Marlette double. Marlette worked four and two thirds on the hill, giving up four hits, one earned run, a walk and seven strikeouts in the loss. The Ravens went to 1-0 with the win as Wapello dropped to 0-3.

Raven Softball Winner Over Warriors
June 6, 2026
Article Credit: Zach Ulin/KCII

Two Southeast Iowa Superconference softball rivals squared off in Kalona, with the Hillcrest Academy Ravens beating the WACO Warriors 7-2. The Ravens got single runs in the first, second and fourth innings, with the big frame, a four spot in the sixth. WACO’s runs came with single tallies in the second and fifth. Each side finished with four hits. Lyla Genkinger, Ella Mize, Annika Schrock, and Amelia Vigneron each had one hit with Genkinger, Mize and Schrock driving in a run. Brynna Boshart, Claire Miller, Schrock and Amelia Vigneron all scored once. Emma Parizek was the winning pitcher with four and two thirds innings of work, no hits and four punchouts.

Mei Leichty had two hits and an RBI to lead WACO, Trinity Dean drove in a run for the Warriors. Natalie Wagler and Lizzy Gerot each scored once. Savannah Harris took the loss in the circle with six innings, two hits, seven runs, none earned four strikeouts and three walks. Following the outcome, each team is 1-2.

The Raven girls came up short 6-4 on the softball diamond. The Arrows led 2-0 after one. Hillcrest scored three in the second and another in the third to build a 4-2 lead. Wapello put up four unanswered runs, two in each of the fourth and fifth to complete the comeback. The Arrows out hit the Ravens 7-4 in total. Arrow leaders included Quinn Zweibohmer, Kaylor Veach and Paisley Shafer each with two hits. Zweibohmer and Veach both drove in a pair with Zweibohmer scoring twice. She was also the winning pitcher with five innings, one hit, an unearned run, a walk and 14 strikeouts. Mila Jordan recorded a six out save with four hits, one earned run, two walks and a strikeout. Raven leaders were Isabelle Vigneron with two hits and two RBI. Ella Mize, Eden Nachtigall, Emma Parizek and Amelia Vigernon each scored once. Mize took the loss in the circle with five innings, seven hits, four earned runs, three walks and strikeouts. Wapello remained unbeaten at 3-0 while the Ravens were 0-2.

Miller’s complete game lifts Ravens over Huskies
June 10, 2026
Article Credit: Cori Jobman/The News
A complete game from senior pitcher Rowan Miller allowed the Hillcrest Academy baseball team to continue its hot start on Tuesday with a 10-1 victory over conference rival Highland.

The Ravens gave their ace immediate run support Tuesday with a four-run top of the first against Highland ace Bryce Hazelett, a lead which the Ravens wouldn’t look back from.

Highland’s offense showed momentary signs of life in the first inning, as junior Brock Nebergall singled and came around to score on an error, but Miller shut the Huskies down from there, shutting them out the rest of the way.

“I was able to mix my fastball and offspeed, so the balls they were putting in play weren’t hit incredibly well and were easy plays for my defense behind me,” Rowan said of his performance on the mound.

The Ravens went on to add one in the third, two in the fourth and three in the sixth to close out the game.

Each of the first six hitters in the Raven lineup scored a run Tuesday night, while Lincoln Miller, Lawson Schrock and Kale Bailey tied for a team-high two RBIs in the outing.

“I feel like I was just really seeing the ball really well against Hazelett,” Lincoln said. “He gave me fastballs and I was ready for them, putting them in play.”

The win improved the Ravens to 3-0 on the year.

For Highland, the loss represented the team’s third consecutive loss after a 3-0 start.

Sweeting smashes first career homer as Highland routs Hillcrest
June 10, 2026
Article Credit: Cori Jobman/The News

The No. 8 Highland Huskies, coming off of their first loss of the year, stepped on the gas pedal and never looked back on Tuesday against Hillcrest in a 16-0 four-inning win.

The night was highlighted for the Huskies by Adley Sweeting’s first home run in a Husky uniform. The freshman catcher tripped over first base while celebrating, drawing a laugh out of the crowd as she rounded the bases.

“I tried to do a celebration, did not work, tripped on the bag, landed on my head,” Sweeting recounted with a laugh. “I ended up doing a somersault halfway through it.”

All nine players in the Highland starting lineup had hits and scored on the night. Ella Schlabaugh led the team with 4 RBIs in the contest.

Hillcrest’s offense struggled to keep up with Highland ace Jillian Stransky, as leadoff hitter Brynna Boshart provided the Ravens’ only hit of the night. Sweeting described working with Stransky, who has pitched her way to a dominant 1.34 ERA and 0.96 WHIP to begin the year.

“She’s such a good teammate overall, she’s able to get us through tough times, even though it might be hard for her and the rest of us.”

Hillcrest 14, Columbus 1
After a slow start to the season, the Hillcrest Academy bats roared to life on Thursday, as the Ravens won a 14-1 rout over Columbus.

After having just three hits and zero runs over the prior two games combined, Hillcrest mustered eight hits, led by three off the bat of eighth grader Isabelle Vigneron, who also scored two runs and had a game-high three RBIs.

Hillcrest pitcher Lyla Genkinger was dominant in the game, allowing no earned runs while throwing the first no-hitter of her career.

The Ravens closed the workweek with a 9-0 loss to Mediapolis.

Hillcrest splits HLV-TC tournament
The Ravens went 1-1 in Saturday’s HLV-TC tournament, falling 2-1 to Baxter before coming back to knock off the hosting Warriors 7-2.

In their first game against the Bolts, the Ravens struggled to find timely batting, as none of the Ravens’ six hits resulted in RBIs. That trend turned around against HLV, as Hillcrest collected six RBIs from six different players, culminating in a game-sealing four-run sixth.

The Ravens improved to 3-6 on the year with the victory.

Lone Tree Hammers Hillcrest in Area Softball Game of the Week
June 10, 2026
Article Credit: Brendan Schnoebelen/KCII
It was all Lone Tree from the first pitch Tuesday in the Area Game of the Week, as the Lady Lion softball team blew by conference rival Hillcrest Academy 9-1 in a game heard live on KCII.

The Lady Lions started the game on a heater, scoring five runs in the bottom of the first after batting around to take an early 5-0 lead. The advantage grew to 8-0 after two when Lone Tree piled up three more hits to their total. Highlights in the 8-0 run included a two-RBI double by Harper Kuboushek and a two-RBI single by Ella Magruder in the first, an Adi Parizek double in the second, as well as RBI singles from Abby Zaruba and Magruder. After holding Lone Tree scoreless in the third, the Ravens went on the attack, tallying their first run of the game on an RBI single from Bria Ropp that scored Isabelle Vigneron to make it 8-1. Hillcrest would continue to stave off the mercy rule until the sixth when Alyson Ford singled to left, bringing across Harper Sojka to end the night early.

Unofficially, Lone Tree had nine runs on 12 hits and an error. Hillcrest had one run on two hits and three errors. Harper Kuboushek was named Washington County Hospital and Clinics Lady Lion of the Game with her two-RBI double in the first. Zaruba earned the win in the circle, going six complete and allowing all Raven runs and hits, one earned, with three walks and seven strikeouts. She joined KCII Sports live on the Area Game of the Week postgame show to talk about her team getting their second win in the last five games, “I think it really helped our confidence. We really needed this win. It’s gonna give us a big boost. It’s getting us excited for next week because we’ve got a big week next week, and I think it’s getting us ready for the rest of the season to come back stronger.”

Hillcrest was led by Ropp and Vigneron combining to go two-for-six with two singles, a run and an RBI. Lyla Genkinger took the loss in the circle, going the first three innings, and allowing the first eight Lone Tree runs on seven hits, two earned, with three walks to four Ks. The win improves Lone Tree to 5-4, dropping the Ravens to 3-8.

Baseball Recap: Hillcrest Academy Sets Scoring Season-High Against Lone Tree
June 10, 2026
Article Credit: MaxPreps/Team Reports
Winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Hillcrest Academy). They blew past the Lone Tree Lions 19-1 on Tuesday. The win continues a trend for the Ravens in their matchups with the Lions: they’ve now won nine in a row.